May 17, 2006

May 17, 2006

 

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 last regular meeting and the special meeting were approved as presented.

Newly elected council member Jerry Carter then read and signed the Oath of Office and therefore was sworn in.

Motion by Riitters 2nd by Adamski to pay the bills as presented.  Carried

 

In old business Mayor Boone stated that he would like to make an amendment to the Police Policy Manual.  After speaking with Mike Pender and State Troopers, he would like to have added to the Pit Policy the following: The camera will be on and recording at all times during a pursuit and the video will then be kept on file.

Motion by Boone 2nd Carter to add this amendment to the Pit Policy section of the Police Policy Manual.  Carried

Jerry Peterschick informed the Council that the Codification Book is currently being reviewed by City Attorney Mike Perry.

 

Colonel St. Sauver was present representing Camp Ripley to give the Economic Development Impact Study.  Also included in his presentation was the training schedule for troops this summer.  He stated that it will be pretty noisy around the second week in June.

Mary Skoglund, also of Camp Ripley reviewed with the council, the Environmental projects going on.

Colonel St. Suaver gave a short video invitation for the 75th Anniversary of Camp Ripley which will be held on June 10, 2006 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  Everyone is welcome to attend.

John Holtz had requested to be on the agenda but was not present.

There were 12 Planning and Zoning permits submitted this month:

Aspen River Builders submitted six building permits for the construction of new homes in the Aspen Ridge Development.

Eric Hanfler - 10x16 Storage Shed

Jerry Peterschick - New Windows, shingles, siding, soffit & facia

Jerry & Carol Saxton-New Siding

Bill Johnson-Steel roof on wood box

Tom Zak-Replace windows and new shingles on garage

Randall Building Supply-34x81 Open sided building for storage

Motion by Venske 2nd Riitters to approve the permits.  Carried

 

Amanda DeZurik contacted city hall requesting the use of picnic tables from Bingo Park for a Brat sale at Gosch’s.  The sale is to raise money for the Cancer Relay for Life.  The general consensus of the council was to allow her to use the table for the fundraiser.

There will be flower pots placed at all businesses and hanging baskets at Bingo Park again this year.  The businesses will be responsible for watering the flowers in front of their building but the hanging pots at the park will need to be watered at least every other day.  Anyone interested in volunteering for this task please contact Jerry at the City Hall.

The city received an invitation to the Re-dedication of the Morrison County Historical Courthouse to be held on June 2nd at 10:30 a.m.

 

 

 


The Morrison County Assessor sent a recommendation to the city for lowering the value of three lots in the mobile home park.  The lots, old value and new value are as follows:

Lot #8 - previous value $1700.00, new value $500.00

Lot #10 - previous value $3000.00, new value $800.00

Lot #23 - previous value $3900.00, new value $1000.00

Motion by Venske 2nd by Riitters to accept the recommendation of the Morrison County Assessor’s Office.  Carried

Two families in the Little Elk Development contacted city hall to ask if they could have a “Watch For Children” sign put in their Cul-De-Sac.  They stated that they would even pay for the sign.  After some discussion a Motion was made by Adamski 2nd by Venske to install a “Watch For Children” sign at the entrance of the development form East Minnesota Avenue and also one at the entrance from Highway 115 at the City’s expense.  Carried

Scott Blake from Aspen River Builders inquired about a piece of land next to the new clinic and hardware store.  He would like to construct a building for his trucking company.  He is wondering if the city would give him the land at no cost.  The council would like to have more information on this issue and Jerry Peterschick will contact Scott to have him attend a council meeting.

Mayor Boone received a couple phone calls regarding absentee ballots and the process in which they were handled.  Four of the ballots were handled incorrectly in the manner of they were supposed to be mailed back to the city hall instead of delivered by someone other than the voter.  Peterschick stated that he has never had to handle absentee ballots in the past and was not aware of this at the time.

The variable frequency drives have been put on hold at this time.  The city is working with Minnesota Power to try and equal out the imbalance within the power lines in the City of Randall.

Jerry Peterschick and Dan Thilquist met with Dave Reese of Widseth, Smith and Nolting this week and Dave will be attending the June meeting with some preliminary costs of the #104 sewer & water project.  At this time the city’s share would be in the neighborhood of $800,000.00 to 1,000,000.00.  Ruth Hubbard of MN Rural Water Association will be attending the July meeting with information on how the city will finance this project.

Thilquist received a list of references from Tri-State Coatings and Dan contacted four of the references and received good responses from all of them.  Peterschick signed the contract with Tri-State Coatings on Monday and they may start painting the water tower this week.

Carrie Byrniarski contacted Mary Venske about her water at her residence again, stating that is has a strong smell of chlorine.  This has happened to her in the past.  Jerry Peterschick will have Dan Thilquist collect a sample of water from the residence and have it tested.

Wendell reported that the new broom is working very well.

Kenny Salber has officially given his resignation.  He will be done as the Assistant Liquor Store Manager as of June 2, 2006.  He did hire one part-time bartender and she is working out well.  Venske asked when the liquor store was going to have a cleaning day and Salber stated he is waiting for Wiczek’s Carpet to come and stretch the carpet before the rest of the cleaning gets done.  Venske mentioned that Paul Ashby of Pierz also does flooring and may be an option in the case Wiczek’s can’t get there.  Jerry Peterschick would like to promote Pat Schmid to full-time bartender, it was noted that Shannon Salber was also interested in the position but Peterschick and Salber both agreed she is too young at this time for the position.  Peterschick mentioned that one more part-time bartender will need to be hired.

Motion by Carter 2nd by Riitters to promote Pat Schmid to full-time bartender as of when Kenny Salber is done.  Carried

Mayor Boone thanked Kenny for his years of service and a job well done.

 


Salber mentioned that the Hardware Store construction is moving forward smoothly, he anticipates opening in mid-June.

 

Mary Venske received a couple of complaints about when the police chief is shining his spot light, it gets shined in people’s windows.  Vanden Avond stated that he was unaware of this and will be more careful in the future.

Bill Davis stated that he was told that one of the councilman’s wives brought ballots to Eagle Court and had the people there fill them out.  Peterschick stated, that is a complete false statement.  When Davis stated he saw Peterschick at Eagle Court today Peterschick stated he was there to pick up the meals on wheels which he does every Wednesday.  When Boone tried to settle things down Peterschick simply stated “I’m tired of this” and told Davis that if he wanted to find something out he should come to Peterschick and ask.  There were only four ballots handled incorrectly.  Riitters asked which councilman’s wife was doing this and Davis stated it was Riitters’ wife.  Bobbie Riitters, Councilman Riitters’ wife, was present and guaranteed Davis that she was not there that day.  Boone reminded Davis that this was the first time the city has had to handle absentee ballots and there were only four ballots done this way.  It was a learning experience for everyone and now the city knows the process for future elections. 

Only one of those four ballots was brought to Eagle Court so a resident there could place their vote and it was not brought by Councilman Riitters’ wife.

The official results of the election held on May 16, 2006 was:

Jerry Carter - 114

Mike Drew - 60

Tom Zak - 13

Blank ballot - 1

There was a total of 188 voters, which was a very good turn out.

Bob Riitters thanked Jim Kestner for his years of service on the Randall City Council.

Riitters also corrected Bill Davis’s statement in the letter to the editor that the cost of the lawsuit for the city was $250.00 not $30,000.00, and that the Morrison County Record is aware that Davis’ letter should have never been printed as there was no time to respond to it.

The meeting was then briefly recessed so the council could hold a closed meeting among themselves and Chief Vanden Avond to discuss some concerns that Mayor Boone had regarding the Police Chief.

After the recess Mayor Boone reminded the council that the Health Study being done in the city is still going on.

Meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

 

Angie Magee

City Recorder