REGULAR PINE RIVER CITY COUNCIL MEETING, TUES. DEC 13, 2016, 6:00 P.M.
Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the Pine River City Council met in regular session on Tuesday, December 13, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. Said meeting was held in Council Chambers in said City.
CALL TO ORDER: Meeting was called to order by Mayor Tamara Hansen.
ROLL CALL: Present: Troy Gregory, Patty Melby, Tammy Hoppe, Tamara Hansen
Absent: Tony Desanto
OTHERS PRESENT: Bryan Drown, Kevin Kleiner, Paul Sand, Travis Grimmer, Ted Lundrigan, Scott Sadusky, Terri Dabill, Jerome Marschke.
CONSENT CALENDAR: Melby motioned, Hoppe seconded to approve the consent calendar for minutes of 11/9 and 11/17/2016, and claims as follows;
City Account Cks #47874-47936 $177,866.95
Comm Police Cks #1174-1175 177.36
Airport Credit Card Fee 78.09
Library Cks #1340 136.21 Total All $178,258.61
And with the following additions;
Under City Attorney add #2- Contract with County Attorney’s Office
Under Clerk’s Dept. add #4-Accept letter from Dabill on Clerk’s Position
Under J-Sewer- Add resignation of Gary Siltman from sewer board.
All voted aye, carried.
OPEN FORUM: No one present wishing to be heard.
POLICE DEPT.: Chief Paul Sand present. Sand states that due to a glitch in the computer system he is unable to give the council numbers of calls for last month. He had nothing else to add.
ECONOMIC DEV: Clerk reports that Mike Paulus will be attending the January meeting to introduce himself to the council.
PUBLIC WORKS: Michael Hansen PWD not present. Mayor Hansen gave the following report in his absence.
· Received a grant in the amount of $6,140 from St. Joseph’s Foundation to purchase skated and protective equipment for children ages pre-K through 8th grade
· Mixer has been installed in tower 2 and is working well.
FIRE DEPT: Chief Kevin Kleiner present. Kleiner reports the following actions since the last meeting:
· YTD they responded to 44 fire calls
· Hoppe/Hansen sat in on an Executive Board meeting
· New hire to the FD is Ross Haverkamp
NEW FIRE CHIEF: Chief Kleiner reports that this will be his final meeting as Fire Chief and he would like to thank the following people, Past Mayor Jim Sabas, current Mayor Tamara Hansen, Clerk Mongan and Deputy Clerk Dabill.
The FD is requesting the council approve John Richards as the New Fire Chief. Melby motioned, Gregory seconded to appoint John Richards to the position as Fire Chief effective 1-1-17. All voted aye, carried.
Mayor Hansen thanked Kleiner for his tour of duty.
BUILDING INSPECTOR: Scott Sadusky potential new inspector present.
Mayor Hansen inquired about the requirement for permits for water heaters and furnace installations and how do you enforce this when people can go to Menards or some place and buy one and potentially replace it themselves. Also if a furnace goes out and they need to have it replaced ASAP.
Sadusky replied that you will never catch all the infractions because not everyone is all knowing or honest. He also states that the City has no fixed fees and if they did the cost could be less than billing on a scale of costs to do the projects. Discussion ensued as to how best to educate the contractors and the public. Sadusky stated that he contacts the areas contractors and informs them that he is the new inspector and that he will be enforcing all the code, not just parts of it.
SERVICE AGREEMENT: Melby motioned, Hoppe seconded to approve the Service Agreement between Cities to Lakes Inspections Owner Scott Sadusky and the City of Pine River for Building Official services. All voted aye, carried.
HOUSING AUTHORITY: Tammy Hamilton not present. She has requested the following action be taken via a letter:
· Accept resignation of Francis Anderson from the Pine River Housing Board
· Appoint Debbie Norman as New Chairman of the Board
· Approve Kristina Johnson as the replacement member on the Board
Gregory motioned, Melby seconded to accept the resignation of Francis Anderson from the Housing Board. All voted aye, carried.
Melby motioned, Gregory seconded to appoint Debbie Norman as the New Chairman of the Board. All voted aye, carried.
Melby motioned, Gregory seconded to approve Kristina Johnson as the new member of the Housing Authority Board. All voted aye, carried.
CITY ENGINEER: Bryan Drown present. Has nothing to report.
CITY ATTORNEY: Ted Lundrigan, Atty present.
THIRD STREET OFF JEFFERSON: Lundrigan states that this has not been vacated according to the County. The City now has the option of vacating this. The size is 60 by 140 and would be divided equally between the adjoining properties. The City will need to adopt a resolution and notify the County and the adjoining property owners and then schedule a public hearing. Council would like to proceed. Clerk request not having the public hearing until the Feb meeting due to the audit preps and year end that will be taking place the end of Dec and the beginning of January. This will be scheduled for February 14, 2017 at 6:30 p.m.
Because of the scheduled Truth and Taxation the Atty report was interrupted at this time.
6:30 TRUTH AND TAXATION HEARING: No one present in the audience wishing to voice concerns in the proposed levy amount in the amount of $496,203. However with the potential wage increases in the clerk department and the $3,000 from the Barclay Contract and also an unexpected Dividend Return of $9,800 and $15,000 that could be taken from the General Fund discussion ensued as to what amount the council wishes to consider for the levy. Stay at the 12.34% proposed or decrease the levy. Council was presented with 3 options for allowing a reduction while allowing for the potential wage increase in the clerk wage in 2017 in conjunction with the updated Laumeyer study. #1 was with no changes in the clerk budget, #2 was with $4,639.99 Wage adjustments and #3 was with $9,605.00 in wage increase. Melby stated she liked the 8.22 percent levy increase. Melby motioned, Gregory seconded to approve the levy be set at $478,008. All voted aye, carried.
CITY ATTORNEY CONTINUED:
PROSECUTIONS: Lundrigan stated that he has been the City prosecutor for 42 years. Apparently as prosecutor, statute requires that he resign as prosecutor or the City cannot have the County do the prosecutions. According to Lundrigan he spoke with the County and Paul has tried to contact the County and they have not returned his calls because Ted has not resigned. Lundrigan states that he would resign if he felt it would benefit the City financially but he has not seen anything to support that. Clerk Mongan interjected that she was under the impression that this was a done deal and that is why Paul did not budget for legal prosecution from Ted because the County would do the prosecutions. The PD is already over budget in their legal and if they cannot go with the County then money has to be found to pay for this for next year. The Council just approved the budget for 2017 and this did not include the money needed to fund paying Ted. She does not think it is fair that the other departments may have to cut their budgets to accommodate this oversight. Melby inquired as to where Chief Paul could cut and he stated he could cut the part time help and also use the $4000 that he budgeted for union negotiations and will not be using this year.
Lundrigan states that he does not think having the County take -over is a good idea. He feels things are getting too centralized.
CONTRACT: Mayor Hansen states that since they just received a copy of the contract the County has with Walker, she would like to take time to read it over and do a little research on her own. She would also like to have the County submit one that would pertain to the City of Pine River only and then have Ted review them. She would like to place this on the January agenda. Melby also stated that she wants to get more information. This matter has been tabled.
CITY CLERK’S OFFICE: Clerk Mongan present.
CERTIFY TO TAXES: Mongan reports that there are two water accounts that she would like to certify in January. Accounts #114 and #472. She will do a resolution for January. Hoppe motioned, Melby seconded to approve clerk request to certify these two accounts in January. All voted aye, carried.
TRANSFER: Clerk Mongan request council approval for a transfer from the water to the general fund to reimburse the general fund for an agency fee for the 2007A bond. All voted aye, carried.
ADVERTISE POSITION FOR DEPUTY CLERK POSITION: Discussion as to when to advertise the deputy clerk position and what rate they wish to advertise. Gregory motioned, Hoppe seconded to advertise for 2 weeks mid-January on the City Website, Brainerd Dispatch and the Echo Journal and to offer $12.65 -14.84 DOQ. All voted aye, carried.
ACCEPT LETTER FROM DABILL ON CLERK POSITION: Deputy Clerk Dabill has submitted a letter to the council outlining her minimum pay at which she would consider accepting the Clerk/Treasurer position. This would be the mid-point amount on the existing Laumeyer and if the council were to accept the revised Laumeyer and if it were to come in with a higher wage she would then ask the council to again consider the mid-point on the pay grade scale at that time. Melby motioned, Gregory seconded to accept the conditions of Dabill’s letter and she will take over for the clerk treasurer upon Mongan’s retirement. All voted aye, carried.
SEWER: Gary Siltman not present. Mayor Hansen read a letter of resignation from Gary Siltman effective December 31, 2016. Melby motioned to accept his resignation with regret and Hoppe seconded. All voted aye, carried.
AIRPORT: Clerk Mongan reports that the Airport Commission decided against asking for an increase on the City Leases since the market values were down. So there will not be an increase for 2017 for City leases.
BUSINESS LICENSES RENEWALS: Clerk informed council that the current owner of the Community Bowl is requesting a renewal of his 3.2 beer and amusements machines in the event that the closing does not happen before the first of the year.
Hoppe motioned, Melby seconded to approve the renewal of the following business licenses:
Iron Hill Pawn Shop
Holiday Station 3.2 Beer
Community Bowl 3.2 beer contingent on the sale of the business not going through.
All voted aye, carried.
NEW BUSINESS LICENSE REQUEST: Clerk reports that this license also needs to be approved but contingent upon the sale going thru before the end of the year. They are requesting an intoxicating Liquor license as they want to sell strong beer and possibly mixed drinks. Hansen motioned to approve the license request for the potential new owners of the Community Bowl for an intoxicating on-sale license contingent on the sale going thru.
All voted aye, carried.
COUNCIL FORUM:
Gregory- Attended the P&Z, Library Local Board Mtg. The Library is planning on using money from the bake sale for the adult reading program. Chamber is looking to do a Fund raiser for new lights for Christmas as the one the City has are getting old and worn.
Melby- Attended the P&Z, Spec Mtg for Canvass
Hoppe- Attended the P&Z, Spec Mtg for Canvass and sat in on interviews for the Fire Dept.
Hansen- Attended the P&Z, Spec Mtg for Canvass, and sat in on interviews for the Fire Dept. Also busy doing Hockey Rink Adv and misc things.
FUND RECEIPTS DISBURSEMENTS
GEN 11,934.36 43,264.13
COMM POLICE 180.35 717.36
LIBRARY .02
FIRE 9,398.88 23,695.12
SEWER 410.14
WASTE WATER 250.00
REVOLVING 1,190.92
MIF 1.26
2007A 450.00
SPEC POLICE 1,087.26
WATER 14,715.44 3,502.26
AIRPORT 12,409.79 328.09
AIRPORT FUEL 1,754.85 78.09
ADJOURN: There being no further business to be discussed, Melby motioned, and Hoppe seconded to adjourn this meeting. All voted aye, carried. 7:40 p.m.
______
Tamara Hansen, Mayor
Attest: ______
Wanda Mongan, Clerk Treasurer
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