The Medical Lake City Council unanimously approved an amendment to a site lease agreement allowing a company leasing space on the city’s water tower to add some equipment — and in the process bring in more money to the city coffers.
The council approved a third amendment with the contract it has with cellular company T-Mobile, one of four companies that lease space on the water tower. T-mobile wishes to install a generator on the ground near the rest of its equipment, and according to the city, anytime a company adds to its original construction, a lease amendment is executed.
The amendment requires T-Mobile to increase its monthly payment by $469.68. The increase begins 30 days after either the date of commencement of construction for the modification of the additional equipment, or the date of the last party to execute the amendment, whichever is earlier.
“This is a pretty substantial lease amount,” City Administrator Doug Ross told the council.
Councilwoman Jessica Roberts asked Ross how the dollar amount was determined. Ross replied that the city has developed numbers for all of its antenna agreements, but in this case it was T-Mobile that made the proposal.
Ross said they consider what the companies are suggesting along with what other municipalities are charging for similar services. The money collected, which totals over $90,000 a year combined among all four companies, goes into the city’s water fund.
As part of the public safety committee report, Ross told the council that the city’s maintenance crews are trying to address as many issues associated with the heavy amount of water in the area, thanks to rapid snow melt and rainy conditions. A resident came in to City Hall last week complaining about a cracked sidewalk in front of her house, and Ross said the city has made note of the issue, along with others.
The city has only six employees dealing with the issues right now, but keeps a running list of issues such as the sidewalk while they take care of other problems.
“I can’t say when we’ll be out to fix sidewalks,” Ross said. “It’s not as high a priority as fixing potholes and (water line) leaks.”
In other action items, the council approved a master agreement between the city and the state Department of Corrections to be able to use Corrections inmates as workers on projects around the city. Ross said these are usually crews doing things such as cleaning parks and streets downtown.
The master lease agreement was needed to be in place before the city can sign the actual work agreement with Corrections. Also at the meeting, the council approved naming Finance Director/City Clerk Karen Langford as the city’s agent for receiving claims, as required by state law.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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