March 20, 2013
The regular meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. with all members present.
Mayor Riitters, Councilman Carter and Councilman Turner were sworn in to their new terms of office.
The minutes of the February meeting were approved as presented.
Upon reviewing the bills to pay for the month, a duplicate payment to Blue Tarp Financial was found. Angie will delete the duplicate payment.
Motion by Carter 2nd by Adamski to pay the bills for the month, noting that the duplicate payment to Blue Tarp Financial will be deleted. Carried
Ride for Hearing: Dan Noss was present with a request to close down the parking area between Pacific Avenue and the railroad tracks from late in the evening on May 30th to approx. noon on May 31st. The reason being is the Ride for Healing for Vietnam Veterans has chosen Randall as a “rally” point and will be stopping for a snack or lunch at the Randall V.F.W. The Randall Fire Department will be meeting the group at Highway 10 and escorting them to the parking area and then escorting them to Highway 115 when they leave to head to Camp Ripley. Dan also invited the council to attend the event.
Motion by Carter 2nd by Turner to approve Dan’s request to block off the parking area for the time stated. Carried
Disc Golf Course: Lori Mueller of Vision Randall’s Quality of Life task force gave an update on the Disc Golf course project, presented a budget and also submitted a donation request from the city. The donation request was for $2500.00; $2,000.00 in cash and $500.00 in-kind (equipment use and Wendell’s time) She stated that there has been a wonderful response from all ages of the community, they are requesting donations from other area organizations, they held a silent auction at the community dinner and the raffle tickets have begun to be sold.
Motion by Andres 2nd by Adamski to approve the request from the Quality of Life for $2,500.00 ($2,000 cash and $500 in-kind) for the Disc Golf Course. Carried
2012 City Financial Audit Mary Backlund and John Archer of Schlenner Wenner & Co. were in attendance to present the Financial Audit for 2012. Mary explained a few changes/new items since last year, the main one being that Gary Paulson sold the Government and Not-for-profit portions of his practice to Schlenner Wenner & Co. Mary then went on to explain the financial state of all funds and auditor’s findings.
Motion by Carter 2nd by Andres to accept the 2012 Financial Audit as presented. Carried
Electronic Funds Transfers: Motion by Carter 2nd by Turner to designate the City Manager and Administrative Assistant to perform Electronic Fund Transfers for the city. This item will be added to the Mayor’s Appointments to be approved every year. Carried
Extra Dog Permit: The city was contacted by a realtor asking about its two dog per household ordinance and wondering if there were any exceptions. He was informed that at this time there are no exceptions. He then asked if the city council would consider adding an “additional dog permit” which could have a significant fee to be paid each year. After a brief discussion, the council agreed to keep the ordinance as it is, only allowing two dogs per household.
Bike Rack: The city has the opportunity to be a recipient of a portion of a donation being given to the Little Falls Convention and Visitor’s Bureau for the purchase of bike racks. The Randall Area Business Group is working on a design and would like the rack(s) to be placed on mainstreet somewhere. Angie Magee and Susan Roberts have designed a bike rack that would work well on the sidewalk and would work with the snow removal in the winter.
Motion by Andres 2nd by Turner to accept the donation of funds for a bike rack from the Little Falls Convention and Visitors Bureau to be designed by the Randall Area Business Group at no cost to the city. Carried
Darling/Green Prairie Park Motion by Andres 2nd by Carter to donate $500 to the Darling/Green Prairie Park per their annual request. Carried
Morrison County Ag Society: The city received a donation request from the Morrison County Ag Society as they do every year. As they have in the past, the council chose to pass on this request.
Delinquent Utility accounts: One customer will be contacted to come in and meet with the Utility Board regarding their bill.
Recycling/Clean-up day grant: Motion by Andres 2nd by Carter to accept the recycling grant of $1268.00 and clean-up day grant of $375.00 from Morrison County. Carried
Misc. items
Jerry and Wendell may be attending the Natural Gas conference at Madden’s resort either April 11th or 12th. The total cost would be $100.00
A new POS touchscreen monitor has been ordered for the liquor store as the current one is failing.
Charley Andres recommended that because of the deep snow this month, the meter readings on the utility bills be estimated. All business meters will be read. The council agreed with this recommendation.
Natural Gas customers are reminded to remove the snow from around their gas meters.
Charley commended Wendell for the great job he has been doing with the snow removal.
Jerry Adamski expressed his concern about snowmobilers riding through yards. This is something that will be watched for the next couple weeks to see if it continues.
The parking area along the North side of city hall may need to be barricaded off until the ice/snow falls from the city hall roof.
Mayor Riitters reminded the council of a meeting on March 21st at 5:30 p.m. at the Little Falls City Hall with Widseth Smith Noltings grant writer. Anyone wanting to attend is welcome.
Meeting adjourned at 8:41 p.m.