Humboldt City Council Meeting Minutes

The Humboldt City Council met in regular session on Monday, June 13, 2016 at Humboldt City Hall. Mayor Allen Schmeichel called the meeting to order at 7:00pm with the following members present for roll call: Adam Lund, Heather VanZee, Theresa Muth and Ritchy Griepp. Mike Beaner and Amanda Siemonsma were present for city personnel. Other present were Larry and Julia Skari, Joe York, Dannie Burt, Virginia Mathieu, and Minnehaha Sheriff Mike Walsh.

The agenda was amended to change Allen Schmeichel to Mayor. The revised agenda was approved and adopted on a motion by Griepp and a second from VanZee. Motion carried.

A motion made by Griepp seconded by VanZee to table the minutes for the regular meeting held on May 23, 2016 due to technical difficulties was made. Motion carried. The council reviewed the minutes from the special meeting held on May 16, 2016. The town board could not approve the minutes since that meeting was called to order and conducted by the planning and zoning board. Siemonsma will get the minutes approved from the P&Z Board at their next meeting.

Open Discussion: Larry, Julia and Joe were present to request the ordinance prohibiting chickens be changed to allow residents to own chickens. Siemonsma will gather information from surrounding towns about whether or not they allow chickens, how many, if roosters are allowed, if there are complaints in those towns, along with other town opinions of allowing chickens. The council will review the input at the next meeting.

Business: Dannie Burt was present to receive permission to get a kennel license from the city. He recently purchased a property in Humboldt and has 5 huskie dogs he uses for competition. Burt does breed the dogs and is following the ordinances stating that one must obtain a kennel license if you own more than 3 dogs. Virginia Mathieu was present for discussion because she is a neighbor to Burt and has an adjacent property to Burt. Burt further explained the dogs would always be kept in the house or the yard behind a fence he is installing. The current fence is being installed as chain link but does have plans of adding a wood fence to ensure a better enclosure. Since the dogs are current on all vaccinations and Burt approached the city first by abiding by city ordinances, a motion was made by Griepp and seconded by Muth to accept the kennel license at the rate of $2.50 per animal per month and with conditions that Burt will continue not to breed the dogs and that the dogs will not be replaced in the event of a loss. Motion carried.

Dave Derschan was unable to attend the council meeting after requesting to be on the agenda. Siemonsma will contact Derschan to check availability to be at the next meeting to discuss Main Street Days coming up.

HCC inventory was discussed. Items continue to go missing from the center. Discussion was held on how to eliminate this problem and changing the locks on the HCC was decided to be a starting solution. Siemonsma was instructed to check into the options of making the HCC more secure with key pads, key cards, or rekeying the current locks. Siemonsma will present the options at the next meeting. Siemonsma will also continue to inventory the HCC to get a good idea of what is missing. Siemonsma stated the purchase of new white chairs and tables for the HCC was done based on the email confirmations she received from the council. Expense approval will be submitted with the claims.

Dustin Hansen did not give a response to the email about the cleanup day tickets. Siemonsma will reach out to Hansen again and report at the next meeting.

The haying contract has not yet been received back from Jack Garry. Siemonsma will contact Garry to check on the status of the contract and to discuss the property needing to be hayed when the ground dries up.

Beaner made an aluminum can donation bin and placed it by the water tower. Residents are encouraged to donate their aluminum cans into the bin and all proceeds will be dedicated to City Park improvements.

A new city office was discussed. The air conditioning in the office recently started to not work. Siemonsma contacted Kolbach about fixing the air soon because of the hot weather and there has not yet been any repairs done or scheduled. On a motion by VanZee and a second from Griepp Siemonsma was instructed to contact A1 Heating and Air in Hartford to come look at the AC and fix if possible and the city would cover the cost. Motion carried.

There will be a public hearing on the fourth avenue road vacation on July 11th at city hall. All those who wish to appear are encouraged to attend.

Stockwell Engineers will hold a Preconstruction Conference at Humboldt Community Center at 1pm on June 16th to discuss the project between the engineers, contractors, city employees, SECOG and DENR. Construction can begin after the conference is held. Information on the conference will be available at the next meeting.

Department Reports:

Sheriff: 41.90 hours were logged in the city in the month of May. The full report is available at the Finance office. Mike Walsh from the Minnehaha County Sheriff’s office was present to introduce himself to the council and answer any questions they had.

Fire Department: On a motion by Griepp and a second from Muth, the 2016 Fire Department contract was tabled until the next meeting until the department can provide the city with a copy of their financials. The city auditor recommends getting the financials from all businesses that receive city monetary donations. Motion carried.

Utility Manager: Beaner presented the council with information on dust control and chip seal. The council would like Beaner to revise his bids with more accurate ones that contain appropriate streets and distances. Beaner will present the new information at the next meeting. Beaner is also working on getting the certifications necessary for water and sewer. He has scheduled and attended some classes and will continue to do so.

Finance Officer: Siemonsma presented the council with the annual elected officer’s workshop dates. The council members will check their availability and Siemonsma will send in the enrollment form before the due date.

Claims: City financials were reviewed. All claims for the month and current payroll were approved on a motion by Griepp and a second by Lund. Motion carried. List of claims in the amount of $56,192.85 are as follows: A-1 PORTABLE TOILETS 285.00 bathrooms ADDY 462.00 garbage/rolloffs; AMERICAN ENGINEERING 593.00 sewer samples; ANDERSON PUB 164.06 publishing; B&A COMPUTERS 60.00 comp support; B&B AG LINES 200.00 dump clean up; B&B METER SERVICE 709.25 ng meter repairs; CAMPBELL SUPPLY 16.47 supplies, CENTERPOINT 1202.32 ng supply; CITY OF SIOUX FALLS 1857.08 dump rubble; SD DENR 230.00 annual fees; DSG 181.44 supplies; EVEN FARM REPAIR 150.00 oil; FARMERS ELEVATOR 1281.47 fuel/supplies; FRIENDLYS 284.13 gas; G&H DISTRIBUTING 137.28 chair cart supplies; G&K 52.44 linens/rugs; GILLESPIE 110.82 mower supplies; GOLDENWEST 123.23 phone/fax; HBC 100.62 supplies; HARTFORD ELEVATOR 102.00 hog panels; HEALTH POOL 2265.08 insurance; HELPLINE 103.08 ng phone; HUEMILLER SEPTIC 310.00 ballfield pumping; HILLYARD 41.94 supplies; HUMBOLDT FIRE AMBULANCE 15,450.00 annual contract; JAMES RIVER EQUIPMENT 2080.00 tractor rental; JARDING CONST 466.14 gravel/asphalt/labor; KOLBACH 400.00 fo rent; MACS 11.28 supplies; MARCO 116.30 printer; MATHESON TRI-GAS 132.15 ng supplies; MEIERHENRY 312.00 attorney fees; MCWC 2636.46 water supply; MONTROSE BODY SHOP 275.60 service; MOORE SYNDICATION 59.60 public awareness bracelets; NAPA 18.69 supplies; OWENS INSPECTION 900.00 water tower exam/eval; PAUL CLARKE 50.00 inspector; POST OFFICE 66.00 po box; PCG 94.99 cc machine fees; PUTHOFF INSURANCE 93.00 insurance; Q3 CONTRACTING 1844.75; ng line retest; R&S SANITATION 915.00 cleanup day roll-offs; RELIABANK 687.44 ball loan; SAMS CLUB CARD 4941.08 hcc linens/tables/chairs/supplies and charges; SANFORD OCC MED 90.50 drug testing; SD ONE CALL 25.20 locates; SD PUC 565.79 pipeline safety assess; SD TREASURER 613.80 ng tax; SECOG 3000.00 admin fees; SIEMONSMA ELECTRIC 3924.89 service; SIOUX VALLEY ENERGY 2501.21 electric; STAN HOUSTON 149.55 supplies; STOCKWELL 1225.00 drainage plan; SUNSHINE FOODS 7.79 water; TOWN OF HUMBOLDT 137.35 utilities; TRIPLE J LUMBER 15.58 hem fir; VAN DIEST 1363.00 mosquito spray.

Council Items: Mayor Schmeichel addressed the board with proper meeting procedure. The proper procedures need to be followed and the implement of a podium was discussed. Siemonsma will get a table from the HCC to keep at City Hall to serve as a podium.

Adjournment: With no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 8:40pm on a motion by Griepp and a second from Muth.

ATTEST:

Amanda Siemonsma
City Finance Officer