AKELEY CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
DECEMBER 10, 2008
7:00 PM CITY HALL
DECEMBER AGENDA
1. Call the Meeting to Order
2. Pledge of Allegiance
3. Approve Consent Agenda of…
a)
Minutes
b)
Treasurers Report
c)
Bills for Payment
4. Approve T&M 3.2% Malt Liquor Retail License for 2009
5. Bob Winner – Liquor Store Report
6. Frank Thelin – Water/Sewer/Maintenance Report
7. Eric Klein – Police Report
8. EHCFD Building Paid Off/Still Wants City to
Contribute for Future Needs
9. Fee Schedule Ordinance – Need to Update
10. Campground Deposits – When Acceptable to Return
Deposits/Holiday Weekends
11. Park Bathrooms
12. Approve 2009 Levy
13. Old Business
14. New Business
15. Adjourn
MINUTES
AKELEY CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
DECEMBER 10, 2008
7:00 PM CITY HALL
The
Akeley City Council met in a regular meeting Wednesday December
10, 2008 at 7:00 pm. Acting Mayor Brian Hitchcock called the
meeting to order. Council members present were: Brian
Hitchcock, Cliff Johnson, Frank Lamb and Eric Sjolin. The
Pledge of Allegiance was recited by the Council and attending
audience.
Motion by Cliff Johnson seconded by Frank Lamb and carried to
approve the consent agenda.
Motion by Frank Lamb seconded by Cliff Johnson and carried to
approve to T&M a 3.2% Malt Liquor Retail License for 2009.
Liquor
Store Report – Bob Winner
-
Customer
appreciation day is this coming Saturday, December 13th.
-
Bob stated that
the pool league will be starting up soon and in the past the
Liquor Store has paid $800 for advertising. He said the
funds would be needed in February but asked if the Council
would approve it tonight.
Motion by Eric Sjolin seconded by Cliff Johnson and carried to
approve to pay $800 from liquor store funds to the Pool League
for advertising.
-
Bob is looking
into whether an additional phone line will have to be
installed since there are so many items that require a phone
line at the liquor store. He wondered if he needed Council
approval in case an additional line would be needed. Brian
Hitchcock stated he didn’t think a motion was required.
-
Brian Hitchcock
stated that the year to date profit at the liquor store is
$26,115.55 and $20,000 of that will be transferred to the
general account to cover its share to offset the levy.
-
Bob said
according to his figures for the first week in December that
the liquor store profits are up compared to the first week
in December last year.
-
Cliff Johnson
stated there are 3 payrolls that will have to be paid this
month.
Water/Sewer/Maintenance Report - Frank Thelin
Motion by Eric Sjolin seconded by Cliff Johnson and carried to
approve to pay $790 to North Star Pump Service to re-pack the
bearings of the 3 high service pumps using funds from the water
account and the backwash pump using funds from the sewer
account.
-
Frank received a
quote for the valves at the filter plant and stated that 1
valve would cost $1,260 and a 2nd one would cost
$720.
-
Frank is getting
vehicles and equipment ready for winter.
Police Report - Eric Klein
·
The first Teen Dance was held with 100 kids
showing up. Eric thanked DJ’s Billy and Willie Krotzer, area
businesses and individuals for their donations and to the many
volunteers who helped out. He stated that two large boxes of
food had been collected for the food shelf. Two more dances (1
for teens and 1 for children 12 and under) are scheduled first
the weekend in January before the kids go back to school from
the Christmas break.
·
Eric requested Council permission to allow the
police reserves (unpaid positions) to do a house to house survey
to check for licensed dogs. This would allow records for both
administration and police to be updated and they would be aware
if there are dangerous dogs in town. No action was taken.
·
In last month’s report it was stated that the cost
for a dog to be at the shelter was $11.00 which is accurate
however the City is responsible for the seven days that the dog
is in holding until it is adopted which costs the City $77.
Dangerous dogs which are removed are in a different cost bracket
and the owners are responsible for the costs.
·
There are still some houses in Akeley which do not
have house numbers displayed making it difficult for emergency
personnel to respond. The location for the numbers would be the
side of the house facing their street address or above/along the
front door. Eric stated that while the houses are being
surveyed for dog licenses, they could also be checked for house
numbers. The City currently has some reflective numbers on hand
which he thought could be given out or sold depending on what
the Council wanted to do.
Motion by Frank Lamb seconded by Brian Hitchcock and carried to
charge $1.00 per reflective number.
·
Lately there have been vehicle break-ins south of
Akeley in the townships and Eric suggested that owners lock
their doors and vehicles.
·
Eric will be getting bids for built in storage and
evidence cabinets, repair on the walls and for blinds in the
police department. Blinds are required for confidentiality
especially when dealing with juveniles. He stated that donated
funds would pay for these improvements.
·
Brian Hitchcock stated he liked how Nevis reported
the mileage in the paper and asked if Eric could also provide
that information in his report.
Some discussion was held regarding the EHCFD building since it
will be paid off this month and the fire department is
requesting that the City continue to set the same amount of
money aside for future needs. If the Council would decide to do
this, they would like the City to have the account. Brian
Hitchcock suggested waiting until next month to decide this so
that there would be a full Council to vote on it.
Motion by Brian Hitchcock seconded by Cliff Johnson and carried
to table a decision regarding money being set aside for future
fire department purchases. Frank Lamb opposed.
The
Fee Schedule Ordinance will need to be reviewed and possibly
updated so a work session was requested to be scheduled. Scott
Vettleson and Troy Hegg will be sworn in before the work
session.
Motion by Brian Hitchcock seconded by Eric Sjolin and carried to
approve to set a work session date of Monday, January, 5th
at 7:00 PM to discuss the fee schedule ordinance.
Campground deposits (and when it is acceptable to return them to
customers) were on the agenda since reservations for the
campground will be starting soon. In the past, requests to get
their deposits back had been made from customers due to reasons
such as a family member being deployed to Iraq or a death in the
family. The campground brochure states that deposits are
non-refundable and the Council felt the brochure should be left
as it is and if deposits are requested to be returned in the
future, each case should be looked at separately. No action was
taken.
Frank Lamb spoke about new wayside rest bathrooms and said with
funding from various entities that he hoped something could be
worked out. Location would also have to be considered in
regards to water and sewer lines. No action was taken at this
time.
Discussion was held regarding the final budget which was to be
approved for next year. Brian Hitchcock stated that the
original amount which had been submitted in September was
$255,153 and after work sessions it had been reduced to
$243,383. Eric Sjolin said he had hoped that they could come up
with a plan to cut costs somewhere and suggested a one year wage
freeze for all City employees. Denise Rittgers explained that
the dollar amount figured for City employee wages with a wage
freeze would reduce the maintenance department about $1,000 and
if there were no part-time police wages set aside, the police
department would be reduced by $5,000. She said PERA rates and
medical rates had increased after the original budget had been
figured for City employee wages so even with a wage freeze,
there still would not be much of a savings. Cliff Johnson
stated he would like the part-time police wages to be set at
$3,500 for the year.
A
motion was made by Frank Lamb to accept the budget at $243,383.
The motion died.
More discussion took place including suggestions of using 2009
profits from the campground and liquor store to help reduce the
levy.
Motion by Eric Sjolin seconded by Frank Lamb and carried to
change the final levy amount from $243,383 to $208,683 which
includes using $20,000 from 2009 campground profits, $10,000
from 2009 liquor store profits, subtracting the $2,700 which had
been budgeted for the fire building payment and cutting $1,000
from the maintenance payroll expense and cutting $1,000 from the
part-time police payroll expense. Brian Hitchcock opposed.
Old Business
At
the November council meeting, Katie Magozzi requested a letter
of recommendation from the City of Akeley supporting efforts to
join the other six byways in the State of Minnesota with
national designation.
Motion by Frank Lamb seconded by Eric Sjolin and carried to
approve to send the letter of recommendation to the Lake Country
Scenic Byway supporting their efforts to join the other six
byways in the State of Minnesota with national designation.
Denise
Rittgers stated that she had contacted over 20 people to see if
they performed city audits and Mathias C. Justin LTD was the
only CPA she could find who was available to perform small city
audits. The council had approved at the November to allow
Denise Rittgers to call and accept the bid from Mathias C.
Justin LTD as city auditor for $9,700 for the year 2008, $10,100
for the year 2009, and $10,500 for the year 2010 if she could
not find any other competitive bids before December 1st.
Brian Hitchcock said that on the police report last month that
Eric Klein wanted to discuss the police truck at this meeting.
Eric Klein said that there was some rust showing on the truck
and there were two options which could be taken. The 1st
option would be to put fender flares on the vehicle or to have
body work done which he could have paid for from donations
received rather than from the police budget. Eric Sjolin said
he was in favor of going to one police vehicle and to hand the
police squad truck over to the maintenance department. Eric
Klein said he thought it was important to have a 4-wheel drive
truck to respond to calls. No action was taken.
Frank Lamb stated as a reminder for the new council members that
he suggested that some of the money from the community fund be
used to help fund new bathrooms at the wayside rest by Paul
Bunyan.
New Business
Denise Rittgers stated that the LMC puts on a conference for
newly elected officials and suggested that Scott Vettleson and
Troy Hegg go to the conference. She said the cost is $280 per
person and is held on January 9th in Nisswa.
Motion by Frank Lamb seconded by Eric Sjolin and carried to
approve to have Scott Vettleson and Troy Hegg attend the LMC
conference on January 9th in Nisswa at a cost of
$560. (Scott Vettleson stated that he would drive and did not
want to be reimbursed for mileage).
Jon
Johnson said he was against a police reserve coming to his house
to see if he owned a dog because he felt it was an invasion of
privacy.
Motion by Brian Hitchcock seconded by Eric Sjolin and carried to
adjourn at 9:00 PM.
Denise Rittgers
Clerk Treasurer
City of Akeley
Wendy Klein
Deputy Clerk
City of Akeley
