September 21, 2011
The regular meeting of the Randall City Council was called to order at 7:00 p.m.
The minutes of the August 17 and August 30 meetings were approved.
Motion by Adamski 2nd by Andres to approve the bills to pay as presented. Carried
Knight Street Project and Street patching:
Tri-City submitted a bid of $5,440.00 for the tarring of approx. 250ft of Knight Street and Crosby and Sons submitted a bid of $5,240.00 for removing the old tar and digging out the road and replacing with fill and class 5 and hauling out the waste material. Tri-City also submitted a bid of approx. $10,000.00 for street patching of various areas in the city. Two councilmembers will join Jerry Peterschick in visiting with the 3 property owners that will be involved in the assessment of the Knight Street project.
Motion by Adamski 2nd by Carter to have the patching done this year and the Knight Street project in Late Spring/Early Summer of 2012. Carried
Motion by Carter 2nd by Adamski to approve the required PERA Police Officer Declaration. Carried
Motion by Andres 2nd by Turner to pass a resolution approving the State of Minnesota Joint Powers Agreements with the City of Randall on behalf of its City Attorney and Police Department. Carried
2009 Capital Imp. Fund There is $20,784.00 in unused funds in the 2009 Capital Improvement Project fund. The city manager asked the council what their wishes were with this excess, to leave it alone and use it to pay next years’ bond payment or to pay it back now, decreasing the principal, therefore decreasing the interest payment for next year.
Motion by Turner 2nd by Andres to pay the $20,784.00 towards the 2009 Capital Improvement project fund. Carried
The council was asked if they would like to purchase new tables for the meeting room, the same as the new ones in the park building, and at this time there was no interest.
Wi-Fi Hot Spot: Angie Magee asked if the Liquor Store could become a Wi-Fi Hot Spot. There were to options presented, one would be to install a separate line just for Wi-Fi at a cost of 44.95 per month and the 2nd option was to use our existing line. We would need to purchase a router from CTC and also there would be some hourly cost to set up security for some of our files.
Motion by Carter 2nd by Turner to provide free Wi-Fi for customers at the liquor store, utilizing the existing line, purchasing a router and 4-5 IT hours from CTC. Carried
Bon Fire: The Randall Area Business Group is looking into joining Gosch’s Store during their Taste of the Seasons event on December 1st. They are still in the planning stages but one idea was to have a bon fire. After checking with the League of MN Cities, it was noted this would be covered under the city’s insurance.
Motion by Carter 2nd by Riitters to approve the bon fire in the park area across from the Fire Hall, during the December 1st event. Carried
Lighting Upgrade: The Joint Advisory Fire Board will be installing updated more energy efficient lighting in the Fire Hall and meeting room. They received a quote from Central MN Electric to install all the lights and asked if the city would be willing to pay for the meeting room lights at a price of $125 - $175 total.
Motion by Turner 2nd Andres to upgrade the light fixtures in the meeting room at a cost between $125 and $175. Motion Carried
Siren System: The Quality of Life committee of the VISION Randall is currently working on finding funding for an early warning siren system. The total cost, installed for one siren that is guaranteed to cover the entire city is $25,000.00. The committee is working closely with Ann Hanson of Region 5 and have found a grant that will pay 35% or $8,750.00 of the total cost. The committee is asking the city to match that 35%, leaving $7,500.00 for the committee to raise.
Motion by Adamski 2nd by Andres to commit to paying 35% ($8,750) towards the purchase of an early warning siren system. Carried
Planning & Zoning Permits:
Dan Fischer – 30x40 garage
Wayne Anderson – install steel siding and windows on house
Christine Marriot – extend deck by 4 feet
Jessica Nutz – extend existing fencing
Motion by Carter 2nd by Turner to approve the permits as presented. Carried
Delinquent utilities were reviewed. No account is currently disconnected.
DC Line Charge: Minnesota Power has informed the city that there has been an DC Line Charge that they have not been applying to our monthly bill. The total due to them for this charge is approx. $4,000.00 and they asked if the city wanted to pay that over a 12 month period or wait until the end of the year to see what the true-up amount (amount they may owe the city) will be as they believe it will be about $4,000.00, therefore the amount the city owes would nearly be eliminated . It was decided to wait and find out what the true-up amount is at the end of the year.
Motion by Andres 2nd by Carter to renew our contract with Gary Paulson CPA for 3 years for auditing services.
Carried
Party’s at the bar: A couple ladies recently asked for permission to hold a Scentsy party and Arbonne party at the bar. They invited their own guests but it was also open to anyone interested. The Mayor received an anonymous call asking if this is allowed at the bar. It was decided that as long as the people having these parties are inviting guests and are not bothering customers to buy their products, that this type of party would be allowed.
Most of the fire hydrants in the city have been sandblasted and re-painted recently.
Police Dept: Things have been going well for the new police chief. He stated that the Morrison County Sheriff’s Dept and Little Falls Police Dept. have been very helpful with his transition, especially administratively. He asked the council if the city would be interested in paying a small fee to his union approx. $100, for an insurance that would cover him if there was ever an officer related shooting or similar incident and the city would not be liable then. It was the consensus of the council to pay this annual fee.
Chief Strack then asked if the council would mind if he brought his drug dog with him to work sometimes. He would have her in a kennel in the back seat. She is not a bite dog. There would be no liability or extra costs to the city. The council agreed this could be beneficial and it was decided that the city will provide a kennel for the dog while it is in the car.
The city received a letter from USDA regarding the sewer and water fund and this letter will be forwarded to the city’s auditor for further review.
The federal government has postponed the deadline for all traffic signs to be upgraded to Hi Visibility signs. It was discussed to look at budgeting for a portion of the signs each year so when the deadline does arrive, the city will have most of the signs purchased and installed already.