January 10, 2007
The regular meeting of the Randall City Council was called to order by Mayor Riitters at
The minutes of the last meeting were approved as presented.
Motion by Carter 2nd by Adamski to pay the bills including an additional bill submitted by Empire Pipe for televising the sanitary sewer lines along CR#104. Carried
The Railroad Quiet Zone was the next item of discussion and the city received a proposal from SRF Consulting Group for a preliminary study and recommendations and the cost would be $5,369.00. This would be the first step to take and the second step would be to set up a meeting with the Railroad and the State.
Jerry Carter stated that he has been researching this issue and also watching the street and crossing by the fire hall and he feels that with the amount of people that walk across the tracks where there is no crossing it would be a concern of his that eliminating the whistles could result in a tragedy and that would not be worth it.
Carter then made a motion and it was 2nd by Venske to revisit this issue in six months which will give time for more research. Carried
At the December meeting the council discussed choosing a Civil Defense Director and Jerry Carter was a person of interest. Carter stated that he would now like to nominate the Police Chief for the position as he understands that the previous chief was in charge of this position. Peterschick stated that Motley has a director in charge of overseeing everything which would allow the police chief and fire chief to deal with their own issues if a disaster should arise. After further discussion a motion was made by Adamski 2nd by Andres to appoint Jerry Carter as the Civil Defense Director. Carried
The planning and zoning committee had no permits this month. They did elect officers and the only change was electing Jeff Wright as Vice President.
The city received five sealed bids for the old sweeper and they are as follows:
Jerry Adamski $153.00
Ron Young $125.00
HF Killian Const. $308.00
Dennis Hoheisel $200.00
Saldana Exc. $305.00
Motion by Venske 2nd by Carter to accept the bid of $308.00 from H F Killian Const. Carried
Dan Thilquist reported to the council that the sewer line was televised along CR#104 and he recommends not replacing the 200 ft line that runs from CR#104 down
Dan also mentioned that when he applied for the Pollution Control Agency permit he had heard that there may by limits put on phosphorous but in further checking found out that the city will not have any limits for this permit which is good for five years. However, the city will have to implement a phosphorous management plan before the five years expires.
The sewer plant is working good and Dan doesn’t foresee any major repairs or problems in the coming years.
Wendell and Dan have been cutting branches out of the power lines and reported they are about half done. Wendell has been trying to improve the skating rink but with the unseasonably warm temperatures and rain it has been difficult.
Chief Vanden Avond informed the council that the miles are getting high on the squad car and that they should maybe consider beginning to look at purchasing a new one. He also inquired about the possibility of hiring a part-time officer again. Both these issues will be discussed at a later meeting.
Mayor Riitters read his recommendations for the city appointments adding two new committees; Ordinance Oversight committee and Utility Rate Setting committee
Motion by Adamski 2nd by Andres to approve the appointments as presented. Carried
The city has been holding $15, 000.00 back from Aspen River Builders since they began the new development and they are now requesting that payment. It was mentioned that there is a second layer of blacktop that needs to be completed and because of that it was decided to release $10,000.00 and hold back the additional $5,000.00 until the final layer of blacktop is finished.
Motion by Carter 2nd by Venske to release $10,000.00 to Aspen River Builders and hold back $5,000.00. Motion passed 4-1 with Adamski voting against.
There will be Truth in Taxation training on
Jennifer Luckinger asked Jerry Carter what research he has actually done on the railroad issue. He stated that he has reviewed the materials that she has compiled along with observing the traffic crossing the tracks and feels that the loss of a life is not worth it. Mary Venske stated that she has always felt it would be unsafe to not have the whistles because of the fact the people cross where there are no crossings. Luckinger stated that she will be back in six months concerning the quiet zone issue.
Minnesota Power is running some new lines into town at this time but have had problems acquiring a permit to cross the railroad tracks. When BNSF and the city vacated the crossing on
Jerry Carter stated that parking on
Mayor Riitters asked the personnel committee that he would like them to meet with all the employees within the next couple of weeks if possible to discuss wages.
Riitters then set up a continuation meeting for
Meeting suspended until