TNT Meeting & Regular Meeting December 9, 2009
Truth in Taxation meeting – December 9, 2009
The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Mayor Riitters with all members except Councilman Turner present.
No public was present with concerns
After briefly discussing some budget issues the meeting was closed at 6:20 p.m.
Regular Meeting
December 9, 2009
The regular meeting of the Randall City Council was called to order at 7:00 p.m. with all members present except Councilman Turner.
A motion by Adamski 2nd by Andres was made to approve adding the work “Carried” to the end of a motion from last month’s meeting. Carried
Motion by Carter 2nd by Adamski to pay the bills for the month. Carried
The council was presented with a proposed ordinance for outdoor furnaces. The main item in the ordinance is that every alternative burning device will have a minimum chimney stack height of 15 feet from ground level and the device must be “setback” a minimum of 500 feet from all property lines and a minimum of 100 feet from any principal or accessory structure. The entire ordinance can be reviewed at city hall.
Motion by Carter 2nd by Riitters to approve ordinance 92.71, AN ORDINANCE REGULATING THE BURNING OF SOLID FUELS IN EXTERNAL SOLID FUEL-FIRE HEATING DEVICES. Carried 3-1, Adamski did not vote.
The next item of business was the review of the proposed 2010 budget for the city. Charley Andres explained that for the most part, the budget did not change too much from 2009. There were a few items added such as: $20,000 for paving in Aspen Ridge, $12,000 for accounting, utility & payroll computer software, $10,000 contingency fund and kept the $6,000 for skate park concrete. The main concern the council has is whether or not the city’s LGA (Local Government Aid) is going to be cut for 2010. If it would get cut, the council would have to revisit the budget and make adjustments as needed.
Jerry Carter and Jerry Adamski presented the personnel committee’s recommendations for wages in 2010. They recommend freezing all wages as of January 1, 2010, no overtime for full-time employees, emergency call-outs are okay but must be approved by the City Manager and no increase in benefits. Councilman Adamski stated that he knows this does not look good but feels this is what has be done at this time and perhaps if things look better in 6 months, the wages could be revisited. He also thanked the employees for the work they do.
Motion by Carter 2nd by Andres to approve the recommendation of the personnel committee for 2010 wages. Carried
Motion by Adamski 2nd by Carter to approve an off-sale 3.2 beer license for Petro Plus and cigarette licenses for Petro Plus, O.K. Tire and Gosch’s Store for 2010 renewal. Carried
Motion by Andres 2nd by Carter to extend the hours of the bar until 1:00 a.m.
New Year’s Eve. Carried
The Liquor Store on and off-sale will be closing at 5:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
The city received a request from Community Services for the 2010 annual commitment of $4,000.00, for youth recreation throughout the year. Motion by Carter 2nd by Andres to approve the payment of $4,000.00 to Community Services of Little Falls. Carried
There were 4 permits to approve for planning and zoning this month:
Randall Hardware-install 2 new windows on South side of building
Charles Carlson-install temporary fence to be made permanent by June 1, 2010
Whispering Willow Estates-replace window in home on Lot 4
Mike Drew-put up a 4x4x7 smokehouse
Motion by Adamski 2nd by Carter to approve all permits. Carried
The board of appeals and equalization will meet on April 22, 2010 at 9:00 a.m. at the fire hall meeting room. Three council members must be present.
The annual report from the MN Pollution Control Agency was acceptable again this year.
Donna Lundgren of the 4th of July committee, is wondering if a couple council members would be interested in meeting with the representative of a carnival company she has been in contact with. The council instructed Jerry Peterschick to have Donna set up a date and time with the representative.
The well pump replacement cost was about ½ the price that Dan Thilquist had anticipated. The cost for the pump only was $2,500.00.
Charley Andres updated the council on the Joint Advisory Fire Board’s meeting of December 1st, stating that the first response team and fire department have been merged and all firemen or women hired in the future will be required to have first response training. This merge goes into effect as of January 1, 2010.
The city has been experiencing frequent power outages in the past couple months and MN Power is currently trying to find where the problem is. There are a couple changes they are going to make to the city equipment in hopes that those changes will eliminate the outage problems.
The council meetings have always been held on the 2nd Wednesday of each month. Sometimes the date ends up being before the 10th of the month and a lot of bills have not been received and the delinquent list cannot be printed before the 10th also. It was recommended by Mayor Riitters to change the meeting date to the 3rd Wednesday of each month as this will allow city staff to compile all the information needed for the meeting and reports to be more accurate as all bills should have been received by that time. City staff would have the council packets available by days end on the Monday before the council meeting. It was requested that the delinquent utility report be a part of the agenda. The council does actually meet at 6:30 p.m. on meeting nights and this gives them time to review various documents that may be available and also review reports. No business is conducted at this time and the regular meeting will be called to order at 7:00 p.m.
Motion by Carter 2nd by Adamski to change the meeting date for Regular Council meetings to the 3rd Wednesday of each month being called to order at 7:00 p.m. effective January 1, 2010. Carried
Currently, the Planning and Zoning committee meets on the Monday before the council meeting and it was recommended that the date for the committee to meet should be the 2nd Monday of each month.
Motion by Adamski 2nd by Carter to set the Planning and Zoning meetings for the 2nd Monday of each month. Carried
Mayor Riitters asked if the city should purchase a MN Basic Code book for all council members and the general feeling of the council was that it was not necessary. There is a copy on file at city hall and if needed copies can be made.
The council briefly discussed looking into better ways to manage employee performance reviews and perhaps the personnel committee meeting with employees during wage negotiations as they have in the past.
Motion by Adamski 2nd by Carter to set the 2010 final tax levy at $125,000.00. No increase from 2009. Carried
Meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.