AKELEY CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
MAY 12, 2010
6:00 PM CITY HALL
MAY AGENDA
1. Call the Meeting to Order
2. Pledge of Allegiance
3. Approve Consent Agenda of…
a)
Minutes from March 31, 2010 Special Meeting, Minutes from
April 6, 2010
Work Session Meeting, Minutes from April 12, 2010 Special
Meeting,
Minutes from April 14, 2010 Regular Meeting, Minutes from
May 3, 2010
Work Session Meeting.
b)
April 2010 Treasurer’s Report
c)
April 2010 Bills for Payment from Check # 6778 to Check #
6872 including Automatic Bank Payments for a Monthly Total of
$51,656.15. Check # 6824
Was voided due to an error.
4. Approval to put ad in the Northwoods Press for
estimates on front of City Hall Bldg.
5. Approval to hire Election Judges, wages and mileage.
6. Amend motion to have the $500.00 for the SAFE Program
come out of the Hendry Donation
Fund instead of the Community Fund.
7. Lacey Hitchcock – Liquor Store Report
Checking on Freezer Estimates
Checking on Furnace Estimates
Full Time Bartender
8. Frank Thelin – Water/Sewer/Maintenance Report
9. Old Business –
*
Brian Hitchcock getting estimates on PB Statue
*
Brian Hitchcock meeting with Greg E/Campground Manager regarding
any issues the campground might be having. Or items it might
need.
*
Troy Hegg – Parade Permit
*
Designate a committee for Hwy 34 Project. (Suggested by DOT)
10. New Business/Public Forum –
*We
received our Certificate for Pay Equity Compliance.
*
MN Small Cities Development Program grant has been approved in
the amount of $665,208.00
11. Adjourn
AKELEY CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
MAY 12, 2010
6:00 PM CITY HALL
REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
The Akeley City Council met in a regular meeting Wednesday May
12, 2010 at 6:00 pm. Mayor Jennifer Mitchell called the meeting
to order. Council members present were: Brian Hitchcock, Cliff
Johnson, Troy Hegg and Terry Chalich. The Pledge of Allegiance
was recited by the Council and attending audience.
Motion by Jennifer Mitchell seconded by Terry Chalich and
carried to approve the consent agenda with the addition of Ed
Franchowiak added as item 3.5.
Ed Franchowiak was present to discuss with the Council
his interest in working for the City of Akeley if they decide on
hiring another Law Enforcement person for the City.
Approved: To put an ad in the Northwoods Press for
estimates to repair the front of the City Hall Building with
break out bids on the 2 poles.
Motion by Jennifer Mitchell seconded by Brian Hitchcock and
carried.
Approved: To hire Election Judges at $8.00 per/hour and
pay mileage for training at .50 Cents per mile.
Motion by Brian Hitchcock seconded by Troy Hegg and carried.
Approved: To amend a motion made at the last Regular
Council Meeting in April, 2010, to have the $500.00 we donate to
the S.A.F.E Program to come out of the Hendry Donation Fund
instead of the Community Fund.
Motion by Clifford Johnson seconded by Terry Chalich and
carried.
Liquor Store Report – Lacey Hitchcock
FREEZER ISSUE:
Lacey stated that she had some freezer estimates for the food
freezer needed at the Liquor Store. For a stainless steel
freezer, which is NSF Certified the cost would be around
1600.00. Lacey stated that this freezer does come with a 1 year
warranty on parts and labor and a 5 year warranty on the
compressor.
Motion by Jennifer Mitchell and seconded by Terry Chalich and
carried to purchase a stainless steel freezer that is NSF
Certified from Sears for food storage.
Motion by Jennifer Mitchell and seconded by Terry Chalich and
carried to purchase a used freezer from Bob Winner for
$100.00 and to approve the purchase of another Commercial Chest
Freezer for Ice.
FURNACE ISSUE:
Motion by Jennifer Mitchell and seconded by Terry Chalich and
carried to approve estimate from May Comfort Zone to fix
furnaces and have furnaces cleaned.
FULL TIME BARTENDER:
Discussion was held on hiring a full time bartender to replace
Lacey Hitchcock’s position as full time bartender now that she
is the Manager. Lacey recommended to the Council that Spencer
Tranby be hired as full time bartender.
Motion by Jennifer Mitchell and seconded by Terry Chalich and
carried to approve hiring Spencer Tranby as Full Time
Bartender effective immediately.
Discussion was held on upcoming events that will be happening at
the Liquor Store. Lacey stated Rift will be playing on the 29th
of May, 2010. Paul Bunyan Days in June. Willy Krotzer will be
doing karaoke the 2nd weekend in June, 2010.
Lacey made a request to have the Liquor Store open on Sunday,
May 30th, 2010 of Memorial Day weekend.
Motion by Jennifer Mitchell and seconded by Brian Hitchcock and
carried to have the Akeley Municipal Liquor store open at
Noon to close on Sunday, May 30th, 2010.
Lacey discussed her starting wage she was hired at. The range
of her wage was set at $12.50 to 14.00. Lacey was hired at
$12.50 per hour. Discussion was held and it was decided that
she would stay at the $12.50 per hour she was hired at.
Motion by Jennifer Mitchell and
seconded by Troy Hegg and carried
to have Lacey’s regular wage stay
at $12.50 per hour. Brian Hitchcock abstained from this vote
due to Lacey being his wife and conflict of interest.
Water/Sewer/Maintenance Report - Frank Thelin
Discussion was held on reflective cones. Frank told the council
we either need the equipment or we need to contract with someone
to do traffic control when needed. Discussion was held on
pricing of cones. Council agreed that the City needs to
purchase cones for the different utility type work on the roads
in Akeley no matter what. Terry Chalich thought it would be
more economical to hire out traffic control as needed.
Frank stated he is working on the Grader. He ordered blades for
it. Frank would like to check into a slope meter, evidently the
grader came with one when the city purchased the grader but it
is now gone. Frank thought this would be a very helpful tool to
have for people running the grader. Frank thought the cost
would be around $350.00 but said he would check into it further.
Frank stated he is working on the campground docks and repairing
them.
Irrigation Pump.
Discussion was held on the irrigation pump at the irrigation
site. Frank is having problems with it. He has been having
problems with the pressure build up to the pump. He had a guy
look at it and he told Frank that the irrigation pit might have
to be pumped down so the screen underneath the pump can be
looked at to see if this is the problem area or not. If it is
not the problem Frank said he will have to look into taking the
next steps to see what is wrong.
Frank stated he has estimates that were taken for curb and
gutter on 34 and Pleasant Ave. The prices range from 1,200.00
to 2,000.00. Action Contracting from Walker had the lowest
estimate.
A motion was made by Clifford Johnson and seconded by Jen
Mitchell and carried to approve Action Contracting to repair
the curb and gutter on 34 and Pleasant Ave for $1,200.00.
Storm drains on Graceson Ave.
Frank stated that 2 drains are plugged on Graceson and Second
Street. One drain is plugged on Graceson and Third on the east
side of the road and 2 are plugged down on County Road 49 and
Graceson at the end.
Frank stated he received 3 estimates to repair these areas.
Veit out of Bemidji = 1,800.00 – Cleaning 1,000 feet of storm
sewer.
Rutters out of Aitkin = 1,500.00 – Cleaning 1,000 feet of storm
sewer.
Hydro Clean = 1,380.00 – Cleaning 1,000 feet of storm sewer.
A motion by Jen Mitchell and seconded by Troy Hegg and carried
to have Hydro-Clean do the storm drains on Graceson for
$1,380.00.
Frank requested he attend a training session in Blackduck for
waste water. Frank stated that there is no cost for the
training. It is on Wednesday, May 19, 2010. It would just be
mileage.
A motion by Brian Hitchcock and seconded by Troy Hegg and
carried to have Frank Thelin attend the waste water training
in Blackduck on 5-19-2010.
Frank asked the council on how they felt about the road survey.
Jennifer thought it would be a good idea to see how the public
felt and maybe get some input. Frank felt it would give the
City a good idea on how the people felt and what the City should
work on first. Jen stated, “Input is Good”, and giving everyone
an opportunity to say how they feel about the streets is a good
idea because the “Streets” are one of the biggest issues this
City is having. Reaching out and asking what the public wants
is good Jen said instead of us just making the plan ourselves
and people not being happy with that plan. Jen stated that
Brian Hitchcock had stated he would like to see a different
means of public forum instead of the survey. Brain said he was
referring to this, “A public meeting”. Jen asked if we could
put on the survey that if a person would like to be heard in
person, to please come to the next council meeting on the 9th
of June at 6:00pm. Brian said to also let the people know on
the survey sheet that the City does have a complaint form and to
please come in and fill one out if you do have a complaint. Jen
asked Denise if the survey could be re-done to fit in some of
the things mentioned and have it ready to be sent out in the
June 1, 2010 water bill. Denise said yes.
A motion by Jen Mitchell and seconded by Terry Chalich and
carried to approve the City of Akeley Road Survey to go out
with changes made to it in the June 1, 2010 water bills. Brian
Hitchcock opposed.
Frank asked Cliff and Terry if they had a chance to discuss the
water tower maintenance issue that they had previously discussed
earlier. Frank would like the council to read through the
materials has regarding the cleaning of the water tower. Frank
and Cliff both said it is a lot of info to go through and cost
is, depending on what we decide to do. There are a lot of
different options on how to clean the tower and a lot of prices
depending on which way they do it. Jen asked Frank if we need a
work session on this issue or if they can just meet and come up
with some options and bring them back to the Council.
Jen
told the Council that if we are going to have a work session we
need to have some information and options organized otherwise it
is hours and hours of paging through information saying “explain
this to me”. Jen stated that she thought we need to know what
needs to be done and what our options are for getting there. If
we can have all of this accomplished by the work session it will
be much easier for everyone to interpret. Cliff stated he
thought that this was a good idea and Terry Chalich agreed. Jen
asked if copies of the information Frank has can be copied and
distributed. Jen told Frank to talk with his commissioners and
come up with specifically what we need to have done and what our
options are for getting there and then it would be more
beneficial for the Council to sit down and make some decisions.
Doug Busby from Anderson Construction was present to discuss his
bid on Hulet and Second Street and to the West of Hulet where
there is water run-off to private properties. He discussed what
Andersons would do to fix this problem. A complete copy of the
bid is attached to these minutes.
The
council decided to table this until they get a break out price
and more information from Anderson Brothers concerning Hulet and
Second Street, Second and Chicago and Second and Hillside Ave.
Jen stated that this item will be tabled until we can get a
break out of it and more information.
Frank Thelin also stated he would like to see any estimates that
were taken by other council persons on this issue.
Old Business
Brian Hitchcock/Parks Commissioner:
Requested the Paul Bunyan Statue be tabled until next month due
to not having all estimates back yet.
Motion by Brian Hitchcock and seconded by Jen Mitchell and
carried to table the PBS estimates until next month.
Brian met with Greg Everett, Campground Manager, to follow up
with the campground issues. Greg said docks are being repaired;
Brian had OK’d him to order wood to fix the docks due to them
being a safety concern.
The
backflow valves have been purchased and the City is in the
process of getting those all in before campers get here. Frank
Thelin stated that 15 valves are in and there are about 16 more
to go. They should be in by Memorial Weekend.
Brian reported that Greg and Lacey will be getting together to
get the ice issue straightened out as far as what they are going
to charge etc. They are working on that together.
Brian reported that he has talked to Greg and Frank about the
pads where the RV’s park. Most of them are in tough shape and
the RV’s should have a nice level spot to park on. Greg has
come up with a list of sites that need repairs. They will need
class 5 or class 1 to repair.
Motion by Brian Hitchcock and seconded by Jen Mitchell and
carried to approve buying 3 loads of class 5 or class 1,
whichever is cheaper for the park to repair RV camping sites.
Brian also brought up the issue of the bathrooms at the beach
needing lights. Brian will look into and discuss options at the
next meeting.
Troy Hegg/Events Commissioner:
Troy reported that he is still working on the parade permit.
Jerry Tatro will sign off on it if Stephen, from the DOT in
Bemidji is OK with it. Troy said it should be no problem.
Jen
asked Troy if he will be in charge of ordering the dumpsters and
the port-a-potties for Paul Bunyan Days.
Troy said he would do that.
Cliff Johnson/Street Commissioner:
Designate a committee for the Hwy 34 Project, suggested by the
DOT.
Cliff stated he has 3 people that will serve on this committee.
Troy Hegg, Tom Moore and himself and possibly one other person,
which he did not know for sure at this time. Cliff will report
back to the Council in June.
New Business
Received Pay Equity Certificate.
J
Brian Hitchcock would like to discuss changing the way we do
our professional fees in the near future. Maybe at budget time
would be a good time to look at this for our next budget in
2011.
Frank Thelin asked if his Dept could use a cell phone from
the Police Dept. He stated it would be very useful for his part
time person to use.
Bruce Blaeser from the audience told the Council he is
concerned about the property across his place west on hwy 64.
He said something has to be done because the muskrats are moving
in and the mosquitoes are bad. Bruce asked who owns the land
and Cliff Johnson thought it was the County. Bruce told the
Council that the City has an ordinance about guns, but if a
muskrat goes into his yard he will be using one to get rid of
it. Jen asked him to please not use a gun in City limits. Jen
told Bruce she would have Frank drive by and take a look at it,
to see what can be done.
Troy Hegg stated that there is paper work and files in the
Police Department office that need to be gone through and dealt
with. Jen stated she had asked Troy to talk with Frank homer
about the information in the Police Dept and that we needed to
know the Cities legal responsibilities as far as cleaning it
up. Troy Hegg said the County does not have the time or man
power to do it. Troy thought that somebody who had an idea
about the stuff in the Police Dept should actually be the one to
go through it and look into it. Frank Homer and Jerry Tatro
thought that would be a good idea just to make sure there were
no open cases pending.
Jen
stated we have not been contacted by the County dealing with
information they might need from us with any open cases. Jen
said her biggest concern is data privacy. There are files
laying everywhere in the Police Dept Office. If we move into a
different avenue with our PD it should not be that person’s
responsibility to clean it up. Jen stated that David Granthum
(former Part Time Police Officer) is going to talk about the
possibility of volunteering his time to get this cleaned up.
David said he would be willing to go thought the files and help
the City out and volunteer his time, but being he would need
access to the internet he would not be able to volunteer, due to
data privacy.
Jen
said she called the League of MN Cities about David not being an
employee. The League told her that we can not have someone go
in and clean it up that is not an employee of the City. Jen
told David he would have to be employed in order to do this.
Jen stated that she has been tossing around some options, one
being a contract that is written up for so many hours to employ
David. Jen stated she just knows that he can not volunteer to
do this work as far as Police stuff goes. Jen said that the
City does need to move forward with something because it has to
be cleaned up soon. Jen said she will be calling the League
again and she does appreciate David’s help, it is just that the
City has to make sure that we do this the correct way. If it is
something that she (Jen) herself can do with someone else’s
assistance, that will probably be the way we go about it, and it
will be cheaper, unless the League has other recommendations on
how we do it.
Jen
then asked the council if they were in agreement for her to
contact the League of MN Cities about what the Cities options
are and then bring the recommendations back to the Council. The
council was all in agreement for Jen to do that.
Motion by Jennifer Mitchell seconded by Terry Chalich and
carried to adjourn at 7:55 PM.
Denise Rittgers
Clerk Treasurer
City of Akeley
