May 13, 2009

The regular meeting of the Randall City Council was called to order at 7:00 p.m. with all members present.  The minutes of the April 8, 2009 council meeting and the Board of Review were approved as presented.

 

                Upon reviewing the bills to pay, Angie Magee pointed out one change to the Old Dutch bill from $33.60 to $57.40.  Motion by Carter 2nd by Adamski to pay the bills as presented.  Carried

 

                Randall Clean-up day was a success.  Residents disposed of 8 tons of bulk garbage, 1 ton of tires and 32 appliances.

                The following building permits were submitted to planning & zoning this month:

                Harry Miller – 8x12 garden shed

                William & Jessica Nutz – dog kennel, finish fence around property line

                Renee Hegg – 16x16 free standing deck

                Jon Myrum – 20x20 deck

                Whispering Willow Estates – 4x6 sign, 12x22x7 storm shelter on pad

                Kevin Dirks – 12x15 deck

                Matt Pantzke – 16x22 deck

Motion by Andres 2nd by Turner to approve building permits.  Carried

 

Motion by Carter 2nd by Andres to approve the Resolution Authorizing Execution of Agreement with the Minnesota Dept of Public Safety, Office of Traffic Safety for the Safe & Sober program for a period of one year.   Carried

 

Colonel Richard Weaver and Marty Skoglund of Camp Ripley were in attendance to update the council on the summer training being conducted at Camp Ripley this year.  Col. Weaver also gave a brief explanation of the economic impact of Camp Ripley.  Marty Skoglund gave a brief update of the environmental program at Camp and the council was reminded of the Camp Ripley Community Appreciation Day on September 20, 2009.

 

City Financial Advisor, David Drown was present with information on the bonding for the 2009 Improvement Projects.  Originally, he was thinking that the city could go through Minnesota Rural Water for the bonding but they are not having a program this year.  He found bonding available through United Bankers Bank at an interest rate of 4.71% and the Randall State Bank has purchased a portion of the bonds.  The agreement will be for a $340,000.00 bond for 15 years and will be pre-payable in 2017.

Motion by Carter 2nd by Turner to approve the resolution providing for the issuance and sale of $340,000.00 general obligation permanent improvement revolving fund bonds, series 2009A, pledging for the security thereof special assessments and levying a tax for the payment thereof.    Motion Carried

 

The next item to discuss with Mr. Drown was the Audio Communications building.   He reminded the council of the three options the city has in financing this building and made his recommendation of the second option which is to prepare a 5 year capital plan and hold a public hearing.  The city has made an option to purchase for $85,000.00.  Mr. & Mrs. Backlund, owners of the building, sent a counter option to purchase to the city attorney for $95,000.00.  Mr. Backlund was in attendance at the meeting and when Councilman Carter made the comment about possibly meeting Backlunds’ offer half-way at $90,000.00, Backlund stated that he would accept that offer.  It was apparent that the council was not ready to make a decision at this time and the issue was tabled for two weeks until the continuation meeting.

 

Terry Roach was present to discuss the agreement he has been in with the city since he built his townhomes in 2001 regarding the tax increments that are owed on the property.  In 2001, the city gave three lots to Mr. Roach in exchange that he make tax increment payments of approximately $6,400.00 each year.  If the amount of property tax was less that originally estimated by the county assessor, the city was supposed to notify Mr. Roach each year of the difference.  The city failed to notify Roach of this until just recently and the amount in arrears is approx. $14,000.00.  Mr. Roachs’ argument is that because the estimated tax amount was considerably higher than the actual amount, he should not have to pay the $6,400.00 per year and would like to make supplemental payments over a period of a few years to pay off the additional amount he owes.  The total that should be paid between additional tax increments and what he has already paid should equal $29,000.00 plus interest.  When Mr. Roach has made payments equaling the $29,000.00 plus interest, he would like to no longer have to pay additional tax increment payments to the city.

Charley Andres made a motion to enter into a schedule of payments with Roach but then withdrew the motion until David Drown, Jerry Peterschick and Terry Roach and meet and get all the information prepared accordingly.  Jerry Peterschick will forward a copy of the original agreement to City Attorney Mike Perry for review.  This matter will be further discussed at the continuation meeting on May 27, 2009

 

The Planning & Zoning committee accepted the committees recommendations on the Outdoor Furnace Ordinance with one addition, that being, the addition of an inspection of the location on property before applying for a permit and forwarding committees recommendation to the City Council.  Mayor Riitters asked if the city really needs outdoor furnaces in town, could they become a problem?  Charley Andres stated that he is not in favor of outdoor furnaces in town.  The statement was made of property owners having to have a certain amount of land to be able to install an outdoor furnace.

Motion by Riitters 2nd by Adamski to extend the moratorium on outdoor furnaces for 6 months from the date of the original moratorium.  Carried

 

Jon Myrum was present on behalf of the Volleyball league to ask if the city would allow the installation of a second volleyball court.  This year it is Randall’s turn to host the end of season tournament and with only one court, this cannot happen.  Myrum informed the council that his team would do all the work to build the court and it would not need a border around it like the current court.  The council agreed to have Myrum get prices of all supplies needed and bring them to the continuation meeting on May 27th.

 

The Liquor Store received another bid for cleaning the duct work of the Municipal Building from Bob’s “Mighty Duct” cleaning service for $1065.00 and the bid from ServiceMaster was $2,852.00.  Motion by Riitters 2nd by Andres to hire Bob’s “Mighty Duct” Cleaning Service to clean the Municipal Building duct work.  Carried

 

The Liquor Store has also received two proposals for an updated surveillance system.  Midwest Security and Fire and Audio Communications both gave proposals and this issue will be further discussed at the continuation meeting.

 

                The city auditor informed the city manager that the city is unable to donate funds to the Boys & Girls Club per their request at last month’s meeting.

 

                Dan Thilquist and the City of Randall received the 13th award since 1992 from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for complying with their permit program and helping to protect and preserve the waters of Minnesota.

 

  Motion by Carter 2nd by Turner to sign the Police Records Management and Mobile User Access Agreement with the City of Little Falls for a period of three years.  Carried

 

                Mayor Riitters read a letter form Region 5 stating that Linda Retka has resigned from the board and they are asking for nominations for a replacement of her position.

 

                Angie Magee informed the council that the city is not going to receive any grant money from the Tony Hawk Foundation this Spring but will re-apply this fall.  The construction of the skate park may be delayed until next year but there are people out selling raffle tickets and the group will continue to work on raising funds for the project.

 

                The continuation meeting is scheduled for May 27, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. at the fire hall meeting room.