AKELEY CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
NOVEMBER 10, 2009
7:00 PM CITY HALL
NOVEMBER AGENDA
1. Call the Meeting to Order
2. Pledge of Allegiance
3. Approve Consent Agenda of…
a)
Minutes from October 14th Regular Meeting and
October 28th Work Session.
b)
October 2009 Treasurer’s Report
c)
October 2009 Bills for Payment from Check # 6097 to Check
# 6215 including Automatic Bank Payments.
4. Appoint New Council Member
5. Jana Dunham – Request for Street Light
6. Sam Krotzer – Damage to Paul Bunyan
7. Approve 2010 3.2 Percent Malt Liquor “Off Sale”
License for Bunyan’s Convenience Store
8. Bob Winner – Liquor Store Report
9. Frank Thelin – Water/Sewer/Maintenance Report
10. Eric Klein – Police Report
11. Old Business
12. New Business/Public Forum
13. Adjourn
AKELEY CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
NOVEMBER 10, 2009
7:00 PM CITY HALL
The Akeley City Council met in a regular meeting Tuesday
November 10, 2009 at 7:00 pm. Mayor Jennifer Mitchell called
the meeting to order. Council members present were: Cliff
Johnson, Jon Johnson and Troy Hegg. The Pledge of Allegiance
was recited by the Council and attending audience.
Motion by Jennifer Mitchell seconded by Troy Hegg and carried to
approve the consent agenda consisting of the October regular
meeting minutes, the October 28th work session
minutes, the October 2009 treasurer’s report and the October
bills paid from check #6097 to check # 6215 including automatic
bank payments.
Motion by Jennifer Mitchell seconded by Troy Hegg and carried to
appoint Terry Chalich to the council position. Terry Chalich
took the oath of office as council member and joined the rest of
the Council.
Jana Dunham was on the agenda but was not present. She had
submitted a request to have a street light placed near her home
on Park Avenue due to it being so dark in that area. Cliff
Johnson stated that there is a street light near the baseball
field which could possibly be moved. Frank Thelin will check
with Minnesota Power to see if this would be possible.
Sam Krotzer stated that to repair the recent damage to the Paul
Bunyan Statue it would unfortunately cost the same amount that
was charged the last time to repair it. He said what they
charged the last time was to fix everything from the waist down
and since it was vandalized, it will all have to be redone. Sam
said if the statue would not be fixed until spring, water will
get into the cracks and will then cause more damage and it will
cost extra to fix it. Jennifer Mitchell stated that she
received a call from a LMC attorney who had driven through the
area and they were concerned about going ahead with a project
like this since they said they could clearly see the vandalism
to the statue but considering the City had just paid to have it
redone, they said they saw paint that was chipping already and
that paint had been splattered onto the sidewalk around the
statue. Jennifer said her question would be in the contract
which had been signed on the 15th of July it said
that it would be guaranteed for 10 years against any chipping.
Sam said that skateboards and 2x4’s caused the damage to the
paint and the two kids involved had already prosecuted but he
didn’t know how the sentencing turned out. Jennifer said that
the City will be calling the insurance adjuster but there are
areas where the damage didn’t occur that the attorney said it
looked like it hadn’t been sandblasted and that it was already
chipping. Sam said that wasn’t so and that the statue was done
right. He also said that if it hadn’t been beat up by 2x4’s and
skateboards, that it would last for 10 years and since this was
vandalism the City’s insurance should cover it. Sam said there
are other parts now that have to be fixed that didn’t have to be
fixed before. He said the ax was cracked loose so that will
have to be fixed. Denise Rittgers stated at this point in time
the City doesn’t have any say in it, that it is in the insurance
company’s hands but when the City hears from the insurance
company they will let him know the outcome. Sam said he
understood that but said if the City does wait until spring to
repair the statue, they will be looking at more work which will
have to be done and it will cost an additional $3,000 above the
original cost to repair it. He also said that it could have
been fixed for $1,500 less last week but the warm days are gone
so it will cost an additional $1,500 above the $6,400 since
canvas would have to be wrapped around the statue to heat it.
Jennifer said that until the City gets the insurance adjuster’s
information a decision to repair the statue is out of the City’s
hands. Jon Johnson asked if anyone knew if those caught
vandalizing the statue had to pay restitution. Eric Klein
stated that he hadn’t heard anything yet from the person at
Hubbard County who normally deals with restitution. He also
said the police department had turned in the reports and that it
is dependent on the County Attorney’s office where it goes from
there. Sam Krotzer suggested that once the statue is repaired
that the City would place cameras near the statue so that in the
future people would see the cameras and would be less likely to
cause damage to it.
Jan Bayman was present to talk to those who have neglected to
license their pets and wondered if people were aware of possible
consequences of not having their pets licensed. She said the
license is only $5 per pet and in order to get a license you
have to submit a certificate from your vet that your pet’s
inoculations especially for rabies are current. She said this
is for the safety of all of us and if you don’t do it you’re
breaking the law and stealing revenue from the City. She
suggested placing a flyer into the water and sewer bills asking
each household to provide the number of cats and dogs they have
or if they have no pets at all then signing the flyer and
returning it to the City. She also suggested giving each
household 30 days to comply or to pay a fine if they don’t. Jan
asked Deputy Clerk Wendy Klein if she knew how many pets had
been licensed this year and Wendy replied that between 20 and 30
had been licensed but she was not sure of the exact number. Jan
said that people not having their pets licensed is a major
problem which has been brought up many times and it shouldn’t be
necessary to have to go door to door for people to comply. Jan
also suggested that maybe unlicensed pets should be impounded
and the pets could not be returned to the owners until they pay
the impound charges and have their pets vaccinated. Jennifer
Mitchell stated that she and Eric Klein sat down in June or July
and rewrote the ordinance for pets and she said that you can’t
go onto private property looking for pets unless there is a
problem and at that time it will be checked as to whether or not
the pet is registered. Jennifer Mitchell suggested that if
there is a specific animal in Jan’s neighborhood that she is
referring to, to come in and fill out a complaint form.
Elaine Kelsey stated the alley behind her house is part tar and
part gravel and the part that is not tarred has big pot holes in
it. She said the grader went down it once this summer and is
wondering if the pot holes could be filled. Elaine also asked
if it was possible to get a copy of the City’s financial report.
Motion by Jennifer Mitchell seconded by Cliff Johnson and
carried to approve the 2010 3.2 Percent Malt Liquors off sale
license to Bunyan’s Convenience Store.
Liquor Store Report – Bob Winner was not present.
·
Cliff Johnson stated that the security cameras at
the liquor store are in place.
Water/Sewer/Maintenance Report - Frank Thelin
-
Frank thanked the
“Sentenced To Serve” crew for raking the campground and
putting away all of the picnic tables.
-
He moved the
gangway from the fishing pier and is getting that ready for
winter.
-
The ditch at Crow
Wing Lake Drive was dug out.
-
Frank is working
on getting the snow plow trucks ready for winter.
-
Frank would like
to get the part-time person hired. Jennifer Mitchell asked
Frank what the agreed upon hours would be and Frank stated
it would just be weekends. Denise Rittgers said 312 hours
would be to monitor the lift stations and 300 hours for
mowing and miscellaneous work.
Jennifer Mitchell asked Frank Thelin to look at the alley by
Elaine Kelsey’s home.
Police Report - Eric Klein
·
Eric would like a reminder placed in the water
bills to citizens about having their house numbers placed on
their residences for emergency purposes.
·
No action had been taken at the last meeting
regarding who would type police statements. Cliff Johnson asked
if the police reserves could type them. Eric said it would look
better if a separate agency typed them so that they are
unbiased. Eric did say he had spoken to a party whose wife does
dictation so the police department may have someone lined up if
needed.
·
Eric stated that another scam called the Lonestar
Foxhall Research Group was reported by a citizen to the police
department. Checks in the amount of $2,950 are sent out by the
group who then requests $2,320 to be sent via Western Union to
an international address and the victim keeps the balance of
$630. Unfortunately the $2,950 check is fraud so the person
loses their money. Eric suggested stopping at the police
department or checking with your banker if you receive a
questionable check.
·
Eric said since the October City Council meeting
he has been working on grants to assist the 2010 budget for the
Akeley Police Department. He said it was his understanding that
the citizens of Akeley made their wishes clear that they are
requesting that the Akeley Police Department continues. He is
hoping that by the next council meeting in December that he has
good news about the second grant his has filled out this year.
Jennifer Mitchell asked Eric if she could get a copy of the
Wal-Mart $1,000 grant award letter from him. Eric stated that
he had received a phone call from Wal-Mart telling him to come
and pick up the check and that he did not receive a letter from
them. Jennifer said she wanted to make sure we are in
compliance for what the grant was for.
·
Eric spoke of a very important call that was
listed in the police department’s calls for the month. He said
it involved a choking child and there was a quick response from
the police department to help save the child. Jennifer Mitchell
said in regards to the choking child, the council had each
received a letter from the parent and thanked Eric and Travis as
well as the first responders for a great job done.
Old Business
Jennifer Mitchell thanked the group of about 12 Walker athletes
who came to Akeley on October 24th to help clean on
“Wolf Pride Community Clean Up Day”. The kids came and washed
fire trucks, picked up trash on the Heartland Trail, the park
near the beach, and at the ARCC playground. She said the Wolf
Pride fund is set up to pay the scholarship fee since the fee to
be in an athletic event is $150 per sport. The scholarship fund
was set up which last year paid out about $12,000 and came from
donations from Walker, Hackensack, Akeley and Onigum
communities. Jennifer said that if anyone has ideas for the
kids to do to help out in the community during February and
again in the spring to contact her.
Jennifer Mitchell stated that at the budget work session in
October, about $5,400 had been taken off which brought the total
levy down to $226,808. She said that citizens asked the council
to look at reducing areas and rather than whole cuts so she had
Denise Rittgers run some numbers of what the levy would be with
reductions in the police department and with the deputy clerk
position. Jennifer said that by cutting the police department
to 20 hours a week with no part-time officers and cutting the
deputy clerk position to 16 hours a week, the levy would be
$182,300. Clerk Denise Rittgers didn’t feel that 16 hours would
be enough time to get the required work done. Jennifer said
that by reducing the police department to 20 hours per week and
the deputy clerk position to 20 hours per week, the levy would
be reduced to $185,079. Eric Klein asked the council about call
time and said that it was crazy for him to take call time
working 20 hours a week. Jennifer Mitchell stated that the
Sheriff’s Department would still be responding to calls just as
they do now. A citizen present at the meeting asked if the
council had asked the present police officers if they were going
to stay around and work for half of their salary. He said no
one was going to stay around and work for that. Jennifer said
she mentioned that at the last meeting but citizens had
responded that it was better than nothing. Ardele McAlpine
expressed her concern that there had just been 4 burglaries with
vandalism in the area. Jennifer Mitchell replied that crimes
are going to happen and that the council can’t control where or
how they are going to happen. Don Kerwin stated that the police
department is vitally important to the community and he felt the
City of Akeley is on a slippery slope of having Akeley turn into
a community of nothing virtually. He said there has to be other
ways to cuts costs or raise revenues instead of getting rid of
such an important part of our community which is functioning at
such a low cost. Don said if the police department is cut as is
being suggested, it is only reasonable to think that the force
is going to leave, there wouldn’t be a police presence here and
how many more crimes will be committed. Jennifer Mitchell
stated she is not trying to dismiss anything anyone is saying,
wants or is proposing but this is a financial situation that we
can’t put our budget on possibly getting a grant or a fund
raiser. Margaret Bond-Vorel asked if the police department was
to receive a grant would it be possible to take the police force
back to where it was. Jennifer replied that it would be up to
the council. Eric Klein asked if this could be discussed more
before a decision was made about cutting the police department
hours. He said that from January 1st of this year to
October 31st the police department has had 710 calls
for service which is 71 calls a month. Marilyn Ferrie asked if
in the budget of $185,000 if any of it is going into a reserve
so that the City is ready for the future. Jennifer Mitchell
replied that would be her goal and that the council has to have
another budget meeting. Cliff Johnson stated that right now
$5,000 in “Special Projects” has been put aside for water mains
during the highway project and they are trying to put money away
to have the water tower painted and for gravel for the roads.
He also said the City has been running on a bare bones budget
and the City didn’t have the money to cover payroll 2 years
ago. Marilyn Ferrie also said she appreciates everyone’s
concern and would hate to lose the police department too but the
council was elected to help the City get through this and
instead of criticizing, the citizens need to offer support to
get the problem resolved.
Tammy Miller said that she would like to put it on the record
that she submitted her letter of interest (for the vacant
council position) on September 15th and a month later
Jennifer hadn’t even looked at it. She said in her letter of
interest she had put her name, number of years living in Akeley
and why she wanted to be on the city council along with other
background information. Tammy said she was not approached but
as Jennifer had stated, she had spoken personally with Terry (Chalich)
but never had spoken with her. Tammy also stated she has 22
years of business management including budgeting. Tammy said
that she came to the meeting within 24 hours of her mother’s
death to show her dedication and all that was asked was her
name, how many years she had lived in Akeley and why she wanted
to be on the council. She said all of that information was in
her letter of interest. Terry Chalich stated that he had
approached Jennifer to talk to her about the position.
A gentleman present asked why the people couldn’t keep the
police department if they were willing to pay for it. Jennifer
stated that this is a fragile environment as far as money goes
and there are some people who cannot afford to have taxes
raised. Jennifer also stated that she was disappointed that
this had not been received better since the council was looking
at disbanding the police department altogether.
Troy Hegg asked if it would be a huge increase to raise the
police hours from 20 to 30 per week. Jennifer stated that
currently they are looking at going from $67,000 to $38,000 and
she was guessing that if they were to go with 30 hours the
police budget could go up about $7,000, more to about $45,000.
Cliff Johnson said he would like to make sure there is enough
budgeted so that if this doesn’t work they could go back to more
hours if they have to.
Some discussion was held regarding the squad truck being moved
over to the maintenance department. Jennifer thought the squad
truck should be moved over as soon as possible for the
maintenance department. Comments were made stating the squad
truck would be a good plow truck and other comments were that it
would not make a good plow truck. Jennifer said she would like
to get 2 or 3 written quotes as to whether the squad truck would
make a good plow truck or not.
Motion by Jennifer Mitchell seconded by Cliff Johnson and
carried to decrease the police department from a 40 hour
position per week to a 20 hour position per week starting
January 1, 2010 but increasing the levy grand total to allow
there to be money in there for hours if needed. Jon Johnson
opposed.
Motion by Troy Hegg seconded by Jennifer Mitchell and carried to
change Deputy Clerk’s hours from 32 hours per week to 24
starting January 1, 2010.
Cliff Johnson stated that at the next budget work session he
would like to see the numbers for 30 hours a week for the police
department if 20 hours per week doesn’t work out.
Motion by Jennifer Mitchell seconded by Terry Chalich and
carried to schedule a work session for Tuesday, November 24th
at 5:30 PM to finalize the 2010 budget.
New Business
Don Kerwin suggested that the City look at as soon as possible
how to get out from under this problem with the Paul Bunyan
Statue. Jennifer Mitchell stated it has been addressed by the
City’s lawyers but she wasn’t going to go into it until the City
hears back from the insurance adjusters. Jennifer told Mr.
Kerwin that she liked his suggestion of placing a box near the
statue for donations and said it would be great if he was
willing to get something going.
Eric Klein stated regarding the police department, as of January
1st obviously benefits will be cut and he has worked
for the City for over 4 years so he has vacation time accrued
and wondered if that would be gone or paid out. Denise Rittgers
stated that Eric could be paid for 80 vacation hours. Eric
asked to reaffirm that as of January 1st, 2010, the
part-time officers would be gone. Jennifer Mitchell said yes
that they would be. He asked if the City would still sponsor
the part-time police officers’ (Todd Holk, Mick Lulic, David
Grantham and Travis Carlson) licenses at no cost to the City
until the part-time officers could find other jobs since they
are actively looking. Jennifer Mitchell said she would have to
get more information as to what that would hold the City
accountable for. Eric said the POST Board would be a good
source for information and gave Jennifer a contact name.
Motion by Jennifer Mitchell seconded by Jon Johnson and carried
to adjourn at 9:08 PM.
Denise Rittgers
Clerk Treasurer
City of
Akeley
Wendy Klein
Deputy Clerk
City of Akeley
