June 20, 2018
Regular city council meeting was called to order at 7 p.m. by Mayor Dan Noss, with all members present Clerk Jerry Adamski, Deputy Mayor Charley Andres, council members Rick Turner and Jim Chyba.
Council accepted the minutes of the May 16, 2018 as presented.
There was discussion to refuse payment to United States Postal Service for $116.00. This is what the city pays to rent the PO Box annually. Council member Chyba said that the fee is not paid by other business owners on Pacific Avenue. The United States Postal Service has to deliver your mail. All that needs to be done is to complete a form stating that United States Postal Service does not deliver to the physical address and then the United States Postal Service offers a PO Box free of charge. Matt will find out if the annual fee is because the PO Box the city has is an extra-large PO Box or if we can complete this form to receive a PO Box free of charge.
Motion by Andres and seconded by Adamski to approve the payment of the bills as presented. Motion carried except for the payment of the United States Postal Service for $116.00.
Guest(s): None at this time.
Public Comment and Concern: None at this time.
Donations: Motion by Chyba and seconded by Turner to accept a donation of $300 for the Medallion Hunt from the Randall Cushing Area Lions Club. Carried
Old Business:
Matt has received two bids for new carpet in the Randall Liquor Store and the Bingo Park Building. The first bid was for $10,050.96 from Wiczek’s Floor and More. The second bid is from Hennen Floor Covering, Inc. for $10,100.21.
Motion by Andres and seconded by Adamski to approve the bid for carpet from Wiczek’s Floor and More for $10,050.96 updating both the Randall Liquor Store and the Bingo Park Building. Carried
Matt explained the status of the Randall Water Project. At this point the water treatment plant has been running since the beginning of June. Mike has been working on minor adjustments daily. Council member Chyba wanted to know if the variable frequency drive, or VFD, was installed and yes it was. One of the final adjustments is to approve of Change Order No. 10, to upsize the valve to the chlorine pump from the current size of 10 PPM, TO 25 PPM. The reasoning is because the water is flowing faster than anticipated. At this point Mike is running at 8-9 PPM. This could change and probably will change so to have a bigger size will give the security knowing we have the capacity to process more when needed.
Mayor Noss wanted to remind the council that when the Water Treatment Plant is completely finished, including laying more gravel and fill so that the outside of the plant is leveled and ready to go, he would like to see a Grand Opening.
Matt let the council know that Tri-State Coating will be here around July 1, 2018 to start painting the Water Tower and to install safety cable, lanyard and climbing harnesses.
On May 16, 2018 at the regularly scheduled council meeting, Officer Strack gave a verbal resignation, the council was supposed to accept his resignation that night. The verbal resignation was to be effective immediately after council voted to inactive the Randall Police Department effective May 31, 2018. Between the meeting and the end of May Officer Strack did come in to Randall City Hall and did clean up the evidence that was in the Police Department. Matt has been in contact with Morrison County Attorney, Todd L. Kosovich, and was informed that there is one active case that Officer Strack has at this point and the County will be taking over. If he needs to testify he will be notified. According to the League of Minnesota Cities attorney and human resources department the City of Randall can accept Officer Strack’s resignation verbally. Council member Turner stated that the resignation should have been only accepted in written form.
Motion by Andres and seconded by Chyba to accept Officer Strack’s verbal resignation on May 16, 2018. Motion carried with 4 in favor and Turner against.
Resolution 06202018-01, Administration of the Minnesota Wetland Conservation Act of 1991, is a formal agreement between the City of Randall and Morrison Soil and Water Conservation District. Since 1994, most of the surrounding cities, Randall included, have already been under the Morrison Soil and Water Conservation District and have been receiving help with the administration.
Motion by Andres and seconded by Turner to accept the formal Resolution 06202018-01, Administration of the Minnesota Wetland Conservation Act of 1991. Carried
New Business:
Motion by Adamski and seconded by Andres to approve a strong beer permit for the Randall Cushing Area Lions for July 3rd & 4th. Carried
Motion by Turner and seconded by Adamski to approve the Contractor’s Application for Partial Payment No. 8 for the 2017 Water System Improvement in the amount of $58,928.55 for services through 6/14/2018. Carried
Motion by Adamski and seconded by Andres to approve Change Order No. 10 for the 2017 Water System Improvement, an increase to add a bigger valve to the Chlorine Pump in the amount of $844. Carried
Resolution 06202018-02, Authorizing Membership in the Northeastern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency will allow Randall to come together with other cities that operate municipal electric systems northern MN area. The purpose would be to come together as one group so when it is time to discuss costs, the group can all benefit. At this point in time the City of Randall is still in contract with Minnesota Power until 2024. By joining this group, the City of Randall may have more bargaining power for future negotiations.
Motion by Adamski and seconded by Turner to approve Resolution 06202018-02, Authorizing Membership in the Northeastern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency. Carried
Resolution 06202018-03; Calling for a Public Hearing for a Conduit Bond. The City of Randall is able to allow a third party to bond up to $10M for projects as listed in the resolution, if the city is not planning on using the funds in 2018. The City of Randall was approached by Fryberger, Buchanan, Smith & Frederick, P.A., bond counsel to become a conduit bond issuer, the City of Little Falls is also a conduit bond issuer on the Little Falls Care Center in the amount of $9M. Matt consulted with Jason Murray at David Drown, the city’s financial advisor. The City of Randall is not held responsible or liable when agreeing to borrow the additional bond money. The project will include construction and equipping of a replacement skilled nursing facility consisting of 48 private rooms and 16 split double rooms for a total of 64 beds in an 82,042 square foot building constructed in two phases.
Motion by Andres and seconded by Turner to approve Resolution 06202018-03, Calling for a Public Hearing for a Conduit Bond. Carried
This is an election year and council will need to approve wages for election judges. The current rate is at $10.00 per hour. Does the council think this rate is sufficient or does it need to be updated? The rate decided on will be for the primary election and general election.
Motion by Adamski and seconded by Chyba to approve the wages for the election judges to stay at the current rate of $10.00 per hour for both primary election and general election. Carried
The city received $803.25 for the surplus equipment that was sold at the auction in Long Prairie. Matt has been researching the best options for the city to purchase a generator from the proceeds. Honda brand of generators seem to be the most reliable out in the market and cost is the same across all vendors. Midwest Machinery Co. is a Honda brand dealer and for $999.00 the city can get a Honda Inverter Generator 2800. This is a portable generator that would be a good investment for variety of repair jobs needed for the city.
Motion by Turner and seconded by Andres to approve the purchase of the Honda Inverter Generator 2800 with Midwest Machinery Co. for $999.00. Carried
Council member Turner wanted to know where everything was at for the 4th of July Celebration. Matt reassured him that he has been in contact with Cans-R-Us, School, Donna & Mike and Morrison County. Everything is pretty much ready to go.
Matt found out all the events that are planned for the 4th of July Celebration are covered under the city insurance after talking to the underwriter at the League of Minnesota Cities. The one event that is not covered is the firework display. The city will have to purchase a special events insurance for the cost of $250.
Planning & Zoning permits: Approve the following permit(s) as approved by the Planning and Zoning committee:
- Gerald Crosby to remove and rebuild a new porch on his house in the same spot as the original one was.
- Rene Trankner (Prozinski) to put up a fence on her property line around the house on three sides and replace wood siding with vinyl siding.
- Marvin Hoheisel to put up a 6’ tall white vinyl fence on south line of his property doing the east half of the line.
Motion by Adamski and seconded by Andres to approve all three (3) permits as listed above. Carried
Review delinquent utility accounts: Clerk Adamski wants the Utility Board to review the policy for late fee as they apply to the commercial accounts. Mayor Noss, Deputy Mayor Andres and City Manager will meet to discuss the policy and bring their recommendation to the next council meeting. Matt would also like for the Utility Board to review to discuss the Dr. SG Knight Elementary School Natural Gas account. This account is setup differently and needs to be reviewed.
Committee Reports:
City Manager/Liquor Store – Matt: There is new employee at the Randall Liquor Store, she started in May working mostly Off Sale and Kim has started training her for the On Sale just about a week ago. Sunday sales are still doing well and Memorial Day Weekend was great for sales, highest he’s seen. Kendra is now full time with Kim.
Since the replacement of culvert on Parkview Drive, Matt has been informed that with the school renovations, this same culvert may need to be taken out and replaced with a bigger size because of the design for new water drainage. Matt has made the school aware that the drainage cannot affect the residents. Matt let the school know that he would like to be informed of the plans moving forward.
Another employee will be starting to work with the city painting the natural gas meters. This new employee actually had some community service hours to complete and is almost done. City Manager has offered a temporary position to finish painting and he accepted the position.
Maintenance Supervisor Report – Patrick: Started filling pot holes through the city and the alley behind the fire hall is complete.
The city tractor is back from Modern Farm Equipment getting the repairs needed. The mechanic that actually did the repairs delivered it and explained to Matt the repairs. He informed Matt that everything is and should be replaced and in working order.
The Morrison County Sentence To Serve work crew was here this past week repainting the parking strips on Pacific Avenue and they will be back to help clean-up after the 4th of July Celebration.
Matt just wanted to tell council that he did have a good conversation with, Jason Murray from David Drown, financial advisor with bonds. The city’s current bonds will be paid off by 2022-2024. The city will need to start thinking about future infrastructural areas to focus on because they can start looking at financial opportunities that maybe available.
Water and Sewer – Mike: Just helping Pat with mowing and maintaining normal daily duties.
Council Member’s concerns:
Charley – Nothing at this time Rick – Nothing at this time
Jim – Nothing at this time Mayor Noss – Nothing at this time
Jerry – Would like to offer the Randall EMS & Fire Department the surplus of first responder supplies that were left in the Police Department.
Motion by Adamski and seconded by Andres to donate the surplus of first responder supplies in the Police Department to the Randall Fire Department and EMS. Carried
Next meeting: Next Regularly scheduled city council meeting 7pm at Randall Fire Hall meeting room July 18, 2018.
Adjourned at 8:33 p.m.
Jody Lausen,
City Recorder