City Commission

MEETING MINUTES OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF DEVILS LAKE, ND SPECIAL MEETING JULY 25, 2024 The special meeting of the Devils Lake City Commission was held on July 25, 2024 with the following members present: President Moe and Commissioners Hach, Pierce, and Uhlenkamp. LAKE REGION HERITAGE CENTER Lisa Crosby with the Lake Region Heritage Center presented their budget request to the City Commission. She requested the standard 1.5 mills for operations and $7,500 for part-time staff support. LAKE REGION PUBLIC LIBRARY Maddie Cummings with the Lake Region Public Library presented their budget request to the City Commission. Her budget request reflected 4.0 mills from Ramsey County and 5.66 mills from the City. Ms. Cummings articulated her plans to move the part-time Children’s Librarian position into a full-time position. She said the personnel costs were the biggest differences between her budget requests in previous years. Ms. Cummings said the purpose of this new full-time position would be to further serve and engage the youth in the community. She relayed the programming successes they have seen over the past two years. She said circulation has increased over the past years and that children are heavily using the library’s services. Ms. Cummings showed that the requested budget reflects all employees having a single health insurance plan. If that changed, she said they would have a structure in place to fund it through the end of a fiscal year using grant funding or operational reserves. She said they would make it a contract position with renewal based on performance and fund availability. Ms. Cummings said it would be the intention to apply for grants to help support the full-time Children’s Librarian position. President Moe asked the City Administrator if he had any questions. The City Administrator said really all the City is doing is approving mills. He said the Library has a shared governance structure since Ramsey County also levies mills. He said the Library Board makes those policy decisions for the Library, with heavy influence from the City and the County. The City Administrator said he spoke with Ms. Cummings before the Commission meeting. He stressed that there was a real reality where the health insurance line item in future years could be much higher if the employees or new employees enrolled in more than just a single plan. He said that is concerning given the County is already levying their max of 4 mills and the City near their max of 6. He said it is not pleasant to let go of employees, especially if they and their family are depending on the job for health insurance. He said if the Library Board moves forward with this, they would be leaving their flank open to one day having an undesirable budget situation. Ms. Cummings said they can also get some State Aid, which is dependent of staffing, programming, and services. The City Administrator said that if the Library Board wants to move forward with it, they can. He said he would implore the Library Board not to pursue it. He said if they do pursue it, there are risks of unforeseen budget circumstances down the road and they would be leaving their flank open. Daniel Howell with the Library Board addressed the Commission. He said the Library has come a long ways since Maddie took over. She said Maddie has applied for a lot of grants. He talked about all the good programming that has occurred at the Library. He said the Library Board will likely continue pursuing getting this full-time position. He said if having the position becomes untenable, they can easily amend their strategy. He said having employees on expensive health insurance plans is always a risk and government isn’t about making money and supporting the community costs money. He said not pursuing the position would limit the progress the library is on track to make in the next few years. President Moe thanked Mr. Howell for the added information. He said the library is authorized to pursue the position but there are clearly risks with doing so. He said the City would not be able to provide further funds if needed to keep the position. DEVILS LAKE REGIONAL AIRPORT Scott Cruse with the Devils Lake Regional Airport presented their budget request to the City Commission. He said they are looking at losing close to $100,000 due to the City reducing their mill levy due to assuming the ARFF mission. He said expenses like electricity and heat are predicted to go up due to now having a much larger terminal. He said they are hoping to redo the terminal lease with Sky West, increase landing fees, and renegotiate their lease with TSA which will bring in a little extra revenue. Mr. Cruse said most of the grants they receive are for improvements and can’t be used for operations. Commissioner Pierce said it was disheartening to see the prices of everything going up. Airport Authority Board Chairman Dennis Olson addressed the Commission. He said they have been receiving 4 mills from the City for as long as he has been on the Authority. He said since then, their expenses have increased dramatically and will increase further due to the terminal expansion project. He said somewhere down the road they will need to find a way to generate more income. He said they have been going in the hole the last few years. Mr. Cruse said with the FAA’s new formula, the Airport may be in line to receive additional AIP funding from the FAA, but that it must be used for improvements and not operations. He said a lot of the money will require a local share to receive as well. President Moe asked if the City can give 6 mills to the Library why it couldn’t give more that 4 to the Airport. Commissioner Hach said the limits are placed by state statute. The City Administrator said there is a reduced mill levy allocation because the City added a firefighter to the Fire Department. He said the Fire Department does not need seven FTE to provide fire protection services to the City, it needs six and therefore funding was diverted from the airport to the general fund in the effort to assume of the mission budget neutral. He said this was the understanding between the City and Airport when the City assumed the ARFF mission. Commissioner Pierce asked if they considered charging for parking. Commissioner Hach said free parking is one of the perks of flying out of Devils Lake. The City Administrator said part of the conversation surrounding revenue sources goes hand in hand with the governance structure of the airport and previous conversations that have occurred around that. He said there are different models of governance structure, and it needs to be cleared up. He said he knows the City has more tools in its tool belt to raise revenue than regional or municipal authorities. Commissioner Pierce said he has concerns with making departments like the Library and Airport dependent on grant funding because you can’t guarantee those grants will always be there. ENTERPRISE FUND REVIEW 1) WATER The City Administrator communicated the following related to the Water Department’s proposed 2025 Budget. - No suggested rate increases - Revenue projections same as 2024 budget - Increased equipment maintenance line item from $15,000 to $25,000 - Hamar Wells Gas, Oil, and Grease budgeted at $7,500. - Safety Equipment – New Shoring budgeted at $20,000 - Equipment – Hydro Excavator for $75,000 offset by Water Equipment Reserve 2) SEWER The City Administrator communicated the following related to the Sewer Department’s proposed 2025 Budget. - No suggested rate increases - Revenue projections same as 2024 projected - $1,000,000 - Increased equipment maintenance line item from $8,000 to $12,000 - Equipment – Ford Tractor for $60,000 offset by Sewer Equipment Reserve The City Engineer referenced the adequate reserve accounts related to storm and sewer stations the City operates. He stressed that the maintenance on those pieces of infrastructure can be expensive and the importance of maintaining those reserves. The City Engineer said that as part of the Capital Improvement Plan, Ford Lift Station improvements are included for consideration. He said most of the equipment used to operate the lift station is from 1978 and runs well, but new technology can be implemented all while possibly being prone to more glitches. President Moe communicated some safety concerns present when doing necessary work at the Ford Lift Station. He said he would like to see improvements to the Ford Lift Station in the Capital Improvement Plan. 3) SANITATION The City Administrator communicated the following related to the Sanitation Department’s proposed 2025 Budget. - Rate and Fee suggested increases ($88,000 in projected additional revenue) o 5% increase on roll-offs – $10,000 o Base rate change from $12 to $13 – $30,000 o Volume charge from $11.50 c/yd to $12.00 – $45,500 o Special Pickup base change from $22 to $25 – $2,500 - Increased equipment maintenance line item from $50,000 to $60,000 - Equipment - New Truck – 300,000 offset by equipment reserve o If automated, any excess beyond $300,000 would be paid via a low interest loan from USDA. - Rolloff purchases moved from Transfer station to Inert Disposal - $20,000 - Negative $27,300 projection despite rate increases o Spending $105,000 for recycling program and lack of market for recyclables a stressor on budget. The Sanitation Supervisor gave an overview of the history of the City’s recycling program which started in 1994. He said cardboard and paper were the primary materials recycled. He said we had always sold our recyclable items to West Rock out of Minneapolis up until November 2022 when the business closed down. He said the closing of West Rock was a major event in the recycling industry. The Sanitation Supervisor said the recycling program would make money some years and lose money in others. He said that between the cardboard and paper the last nine months, the City has not made much money from the broker it is working with. He said the costs to get it to the broker reduces any margin the City could gain from selling the recyclables. The City Administrator said the recycling program and operations have cost the City money and has not been able to break even. Commissioner Pierce asked about collecting glass. The Sanitation Supervisor said there is no market for glass. Commissioner Pierce expressed his disappointment in people not abiding by the rules at the recycling center. The Sanitation Supervisor echoed those frustrations. Commissioner Pierce asked if the program was worth all the hassle. The Sanitation Supervisor said it is all about whether the City wants to include running the program despite losing money on it. Commissioner Hach said the public perspective is that recycling is the right thing to do. The City Engineer added that the City has a current partnership with Lake Region Corporation and the program employees people that helps them be a part of the community and provide a good service. He added that some communities charge a fee to those that want to recycle, but that the City of Devils Lake does not. He said the costs for the recycling program are being offset through higher fees in other areas. He added that the vast majority of recycling is cardboard and that the market frequently goes up and down. He said there may be a time when the City has to look at its curbside recycling service and determine if it wants to continue it. Commissioner Pierce asked about moving to just cardboard since there is really no market for other recyclables. The City Engineer said the City is pursuing an automated system to implement next year and that the continuance of the recycling program is in the next year’s budget. He said the City moving to an automated system would be a significant change for everyone. He said the bigger cans that would be incorporated into the new system would likely reduce the volume of recyclables collected. He said some people recycle to save money while others do it for other reasons. The Sanitation Supervisor said the recycling truck Lake Region Corporation uses was purchased in 1994 and will need replacement soon. He added that the current supervisor of the program is nearing retirement as well. The Sanitation Supervisor said that Waste Management has approached the City in the past to inquire about collecting recyclables in town. He said he gave them information but that it would likely be single stream recycling and residents would have to pay to use the service. The City Administrator said there will likely be many conversations in the next year or two on sanitation services, to include the number of special pickup days, the recycling program, and moving to an automated system. The Sanitation Supervisor expressed that he feels the City should move to once a year for special pickup week. President Moe said it is a good service the community likes but recognized the cost associated with doing it twice. The meeting adjourned at 12:42pm. __________________________________ __________________________________ SPENCER HALVORSON JIM MOE CITY ADMINISTRATOR/AUDITOR PRESIDENT OF CITY COMMISSION