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MINUTES
– MORRIS CITY COUNCIL – REGULAR MEETING – JULY 10, 2007
The
regular meeting of the Morris City Council was called to order at 5:15 p.m.
this 10th day of July, 2007, by Mayor Giese in the Council Chambers
of the Morris Senior Citizens/Community Center.
PLEDGE
OF ALLEGIANCE: The Pledge of
Allegiance was recited.
ROLL
CALL: Roll call was taken with
the following members present:
Council member Carrington, Miller, Storck, Webster and Mayor Giese. Also present was Interim City Manager
Krosschell, Public Works Director Dittbenner, Fire Chief Storck and City
Attorney Glasrud.
READING
AND APPROVAL OF MINUTES: 6/26/07
Regular Meeting Minutes:
Council member Storck moved, seconded by Miller, to approve the 6/26/07
regular meeting minutes. Motion
carried.
6/26/07
Condensed Version Minutes:
Council member Carrington moved, seconded by Mayor Giese to approve the
6/26/07 condensed version minutes.
Motion carried.
AUDIT
OF CITY BILLS: Interim Manager
Krosschell noted that the bill for Mudpumpers Mudjacking was inadvertently
added to the bill list. This bill
was already approved for payment at the last council meeting. Council member Webster moved, seconded
by Miller, to authorize payment of the City bills dated July 10, 2007 with the
deletion of the payment to Mudpumpers Mudjacking. Motion carried.
Pay
Estimate #2 – West 6th Street & Lyndale Avenue: Council member Storck moved, seconded
by Carrington, to authorize payment of $178,391 to Riley Bros. Construction for
work on the West 6th Street and Lyndale Avenue project. Motion carried.
Pay
Estimate #2 – Parking Lot Rehabilitation: Council member Miller moved, seconded by Webster, to
authorize payment of $7,100.08 to B.G. Amundson Construction for work on the
City Center Parking Lot Rehabilitation project. Motion carried.
CITIZEN’S
COMMENTS: None
ORDINANCES
AND RESOLUTIONS: Public
Hearing and Second Reading of Ordinance No. 76: This ordinance would repeal Ordinance No. 60, which was for
the purpose of conveying real property in the Industrial Park to John Case
Minners. The transaction was never
completed by the Minners and in order to clear up the matter, the ordinance
needs to be repealed.
Mayor
Giese opened the public hearing at 5:25 p.m. There being no comments from the public, Mayor Giese closed
the public hearing at 5:25 p.m. and brought the matter back to the council for
action.
Council
member Miller moved, seconded by Webster, to accept this as the second reading
and adopt Ordinance No. 76, An Ordinance Repealing Ordinance No. 60, An
Ordinance Conveying Real Property.
Voting was as follows:
Council
member Carrington aye
Council
member Webster aye
Council
member Miller aye
Council
member Storck aye
Mayor
Giese aye
With all
voting in favor, motion carried.
PETITIONS,
REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS: Temporary
License – Morris Eagles:
Council member Carrington moved, seconded by Mayor Giese, to approve the
temporary on sale beer license for the Morris Eagles for July 14th. Motion carried.
Request
for Donation: Michael Haynes
of the SCEIC was present at the meeting.
Haynes stated the Corn Stover Gasification Business Plan Development
Project is continuing to move forward.
Haynes noted there is a group from the AURI, Corn Growers Association,
five farmers and the city and county that would be involved in the request for
proposals for a completed corn stover gasification business plan. Haynes stated AURI and Corn Growers
have agreed to fund part of the cost of the development plan but he is asking
for a donation of $6,000 from the city and county. The $4,000 would be used for the gap in funding the
development of the business plan.
The additional $2,000 is needed for administration and legal costs.
Council
member Carrington asked what the benefit to the city would be. Haynes assured the council that the
product that comes out will have some benefit to the community. Webster asked if the city would be
involved in the funding of the project and Haynes stated no.
Miller
asked if this type of business would qualify for the JOBZ program. Haynes stated it may. Haynes noted the bio-science and
technology program did not make it through the last legislative session, and
the JOBZ program almost didn’t either.
Council
member Webster moved that the city authorize the donation of $6,000.
Mayor
Giese asked if the funds would come from the city or the EDA. Krosschell stated the EDA does not have
any funds other than TIF.
Krosschell indicated it would have to be done through the city, but
noted there is nothing if this year’s budget for this. Krosschell stated there are some
contingency funds available.
Miller asked if the payment from Aaron Carlson could go towards
this. Krosschell explained that
those funds were designated for the city’s revolving loan fund and need to go
into that fund when they are paid back.
Krosschell stated if the council funds this request something has to be
reduced somewhere else, unless contingency funds are used.
Webster
withdrew his motion, indicating that there are other items on the agenda which
may need funding. Mayor Giese
stated the money from the AURI and Crown Growers is hinging on the city’s
contribution and if it is good enough for them the city should do it.
Mayor
Giese moved, seconded by Council member Miller, to make a donation of $6,000 to
the SCEIC for funding of the Corn Stover Gasification Business Plan Development
Project. Voting was as follows:
Council
member Webster aye
Council
member Carrington aye
Council
member Storck aye
Council
member Miller aye
Mayor
Giese aye
With all
voting in favor, motion carried.
CITY
MANAGER’S REPORTS & RECOMMENDATIONS: Fire Call Bill:
Fire Chief Storck was present at the meeting to discuss a bill for a
fire call at the University. The
Fire Department was called to a false alarm at the RFC. The RFC staff called the dispatcher
immediately after the alarm was pulled and indicated it was a false alarm and
no response was necessary.
Fire Chief
Storck stated UMM and the city have an agreement through the Fire Department
that no one other than a UMM or city police officer has the authority to call
off the Fire Department. Fire
Chief Storck indicated the fire department should have been called off prior to
arriving but the dispatcher did not speak with anyone of authority to do
so. Storck indicated the
University has been good to pay the city when they do owe for a call and it was
just a matter of an officer not getting there quick enough to call them off. However, Fire Chief Storck noted he and
Krosschell figured it out and there is $300 in compensation when the firemen
are called out.
Council
member Storck moved, seconded by Mayor Giese, to forgive the fire call bill for
UMM from March 20, 2007. Motion
carried.
Council
member Storck asked if it would be appropriate to look at all fire call billing
issues at the end of the year like the ambulance does. Krosschell indicated there is a bill on
file and monthly reminders sent so it would make sense to take care of it as
they come up.
NEW
BUSINESS: Update on Bike
Path: Council member Webster
asked if City Engineer Fier had worked up an estimate for the cost of extending
the bike path on West 4th Street. Krosschell stated he talked with City Engineer Fier and he
did not work up an estimate because this project would be on the State of
Minnesota right-of-way. Krosschell
noted the existing bike path was apparently inspected by the state and they
also funded a large majority of the project. Krosschell stated the way he understood it is that the
Detroit Lakes office would be contacted before the city incurred any expenses
and to his knowledge that has not been done.
Picnic
Tables: Council member Webster
thanked Public Works Director Dittbenner for meeting with the Chamber to
organize picnic tables for Prairie Pioneer Days.
Vision
Sharing for Morris: Webster
stated he would like to see the council share their long and short term visions
for the city. Webster suggested
spending five minutes per meeting on a regular basis on this discussion. Council member Storck suggested having
a breakfast meeting once every couple of months. Storck also suggested adding the county commissioners to the
discussion. It was the consensus
of the council that this was a good idea and to bring it up at the last meeting
in August and schedule something for September.
Morris
Theater: Webster commented
that it would be huge if downtown loses its theater. Webster asked if the city could offer some incentives such
as TIF. Webster noted other small
cities have rescued their movie theaters.
OLD
BUSINESS: Designation of
City Manager Candidate Finalist:
Mayor Giese indicated the ad hac committee has recommended a single
finalist to pursue for the position of city manager and that is Blaine Hill
from Breckenridge.
Scheduling
of City Manager Candidate Interview:
Mayor Giese moved, seconded by Council member Webster, to schedule an
interview with the city manager finalist for 5:00 p.m. on July 12th
in the council chambers. This
worksession was previously scheduled but the purpose for the meeting has
changed to an interview. Motion
carried.
Council
member Miller moved, seconded by Webster, to schedule a worksession for 5:00
p.m. on Thursday, July 19th to discuss results of the interview
being held on July 12th.
Discussion was held on what kind of background checks to conduct and
contacting of references. Council
members Miller, Webster and Mayor Giese indicated that they would contact
references. Krosschell noted that
all new hires are required to have a criminal background check and the
turnaround time on that would be approximately two weeks.
Update
on Aaron Carlson Loan: Krosschell
stated he wrote a letter to Aaron Carlson informing them of the council’s
decision to collect on the loan and the city received a response with a check
for half of the loan amount. The
response indicates they will pay the remainder of the loan before December 15,
2007.
Spray
Park: Carrington asked about
the status of the spray park.
Dittbenner stated they are waiting on the skid packs and as soon as they
are received things should be moving towards completion.
Old
Swimming Hole: Krosschell
explained the DNR issued a cease and desist order to stop filling in the
swimming hole at PDT Park.
Krosschell indicated it was determined that it falls under the wetland
jurisdiction of a DNR waterway.
Dittbenner stated the DNR was going to stake off where the city needed
to pull the dirt back to and return it to a wetland.
Flooding
on West Side of Town: Council
member Storck stated he was curious if any research was being done on the
flooding that happened when there was 4” of rain.
Dittbenner
stated Lynn is checking sump pumps as part of the water meter audit. Dittbenner indicated there is no
televising being done right now.
Dittbenner noted he
met with a
gentleman from Infratech and found 16 manholes that have seepage problems. The city will be getting a bid on
having them sealed and putting chimneys and boots on them so they’re water
proof, which will help on the east side of town.
Storck asked
if anything was found along West 5th Street. Storck stated Lyle Miller told him
there was a tape at City Hall that he should look at that shows two pretty good
obstructions. Dittbenner noted
Miller did not communicate that to him.
Storck also stated he talked with Fier who said something probably has
to be done on 5th Street.
Storck
indicated to Krosschell that somebody should get together and find out if there
is a problem before the next big rain.
Glasrud stated he was hoping there would be some effort to find out
about the houses that are supposedly tied into it. Storck stated he would like to have all the bad areas
televised and see what’s going on.
Giese
asked if they had found many sump pumps still being pumped into the city
sewer. Dittbenner explained they
televised a new plastic line on 6th Street. Dittbenner noted there was one house
that had a 5-6 gallon/minute straight stream of water with soap suds which
would make it suspect that it was tied into the tile around the foundation. Dittbenner indicated smoke testing is
the easiest way to find out for sure.
Webster
asked if anyone had filed a claim.
Krosschell stated there have been several sewer back up claims but he
has not heard how the insurance company is responding to the claims.
Dittbenner
stated he has ordered two pumps with trailers and is currently having Ryan and
Lyle look over a policy to see if he’s missed anything in the steps and
procedures to handle this. Storck indicated
the whole city council needs a plan.
Dittbenner explained the I & I problem needs to be addressed and
taken care of. WSN is preparing a
bid for some smoke testing for next spring. Dittbenner indicated the city needs to deal with some of the
problems they have found in the past.
Dittbenner explained he wrote up a policy for the pumps and where to put
them. Storck stated it would be
best for Dittbenner to update the council on what he has done in the previous two
weeks to keep this from happening again.
Storck stated the public needs to know that the city is working on
it. Storck stated he doesn’t want
to have a 4” rain and find out that the city has been sitting around for the
last two months because then he is going to be looking for somebody new.
Glasrud
asked if there was a problem with not enough funds to have the guys on
call. Storck stated that is part
of the Interim City Manager’s job to make sure somebody is around. Storck asked if they wear pagers. Dittbenner stated he has three guys
with pagers but they are not required to wear them. Storck stated the Public Works Director has a pager and it
is his job to make sure somebody’s around and if they’re not then he has to be
there. Storck stated that’s the
way it was in the past and everything flows downhill; somebody has to say the
buck stops here. Storck noted the
fire department is on call 24 hours a day which is another resource if needed.
Webster
suggested letting Dittbenner develop a plan since he’s the expert. Webster stated if there is extra money needed
the council deal with where to find it.
Dittbenner asked the council if they were willing to take on call out
pay when the new labor contracts are redone. Dittbenner noted the city tried it once and it didn’t go
through because what they were asking for was more than what paramedics in the
cities were getting for on call.
Storck stated it is usually seniority that gets called. Storck further stated it has to come to
the point of either do your job or you’re out of here. Dittbenner asked if he was going to
have the backing of the council to write people up when he can’t get a hold of
anybody. Storck stated he wasn’t
going to worry about it; he was going to make a decision.
Krosschell
explained there are a lot of things to consider, such as where the city stands
with its union contracts and what kind of liability it runs into. Krosschell indicated determining the
source of the infiltration is going to take some resources and some time, it is
not going to happen two weeks from now.
Krosschell stated the labor contracts expire at the end of the year and
maybe that is something the new city manager can address as far as things the
city needs from its labor force and what we can/can’t do as far as Dittbenner
getting people on the site.
Krosschell noted Dittbenner is addressing some issues, i.e. pumps,
procedures. Krosschell stated city
staff hasn’t forgot about it.
INFORMATIONAL ITEMS: June Transit Report: This was informational for the council.
ADJOURNMENT:
There being no further business, Mayor Giese adjourned the meeting at
6:45 p.m.
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