City Council Meeting

Holdingford City Council Minutes Monday, September 9th, 2024 Council Members in attendance: Eric Berscheid, Jayme Opatz, Seth Young, Andy Higgins. Tim Winter was not present. Others in attendance: Nicky Lahr, Herman Lansing, Dave Blommel, Amy Opatz, Travis Harlander, Robyn Hoerr, Jolene Leither. Eric opened the City Council meeting at 7:02 and the Pledge of Allegiance was recited. Robyn Hoerr and Jolene Leither, from MN Rural Water Association, gave an update on where the City is at with the Wellhead Protection plan, and the process it takes for final approval. They hope to have it completed and ready for council approval in the next 6-8 months. She also offered assistance in applying for more grants to help the city locate a new, safe, well site. Jayme made a motion to apply for more grants for our City well system. Andy seconded the motion and it passed with all in favor. Seth made a motion to approve the September consent agenda items including August minutes, and financial statements. Jayme seconded the motion, and it passed with all in favor. Dave Blommel, City Engineer, gave an update on the well location process. He will work together with the MRWA and MNDH, and apply for more grants. Dave also presented the bids received for the North High Court construction project. They came in quite a bit higher than expected. He offered the following options; 1. Choose the lowest quote and move forward with the project this fall. This could cause problems if they open the road, and it is too wet to proceed before winter. 2. Reject both quotes and put the project out to bid over the winter for a spring start time. This would provide potentially lower costs, especially if including the pavement of the City Hall parking lot. Jayme made a motion to reject the current quotes and go out to bid this winter for a spring project, and to include City Hall pavement. Andy seconded the motion, and it passed with all in motion. Jayme inquired about temporary patches for North High Court. Dave stated that cold patching would not hold up and the alternatives are not cost effective since the road will be redone within the year. There were no Fire Department, or Land Use Committee updates. Amy gave the July Muni updates. They are up $7894 for the year. The Husker card has been changed and the new punch cards are in place. Backstock is now on clearance sale. Amy is working on a grant/rebate through Xcel Energy to update the walk-in freezer. If approved it would be very little out of pocket, and she should have more information next week. Working with the Fire Relief on football boards and gun raffle. There were several interviews this week, and Amy recommended hiring one candidate. Jayme made a motion to hire Amy Vettrus. Seth seconded the motion and it passed with all in favor. Amy would like to hire one or two fill-in bartenders to replace Terry and Nikki. Amy and Jayme worked on budget for 2025. They found places to cut and will focus on only purchasing inventory that sells quickly, and not having stock on hand that doesn’t move. The Council went over Amy’s annual review. As she is at the top of her pay scale in her grade, there will not be a pay increase unless a cost of living increase is approved for January 1st. There was also discussion on updating her job description and moving the position to hourly instead of salaried. The council decided not to act at this time, but asked for a new draft of her job description to be written. Nicky gave the Clerk’s report. She is continuing work on Two River Enterprises TIF, MIF and Job Creation fund. She is also working on getting numbers for the 2025 budget, and the levy. The city received $10,000 from the grant that we were awarded for the Well project. Nicky wanted to inform everyone that the August utility bill has an error on it, and Minutes are not official until approved by the City Council and signed by the Clerk. bills are due on September 20th, not August 20th. We were able to sell the extra black chairs, and a few wall decorations for $60, and the Council chairs were replaced and the old ones disposed of. Nicky painted the City Hall entrance, and Steve put on new baseboards. The community bulletin boards were removed from the entrance and are not located in the Hallway of City Hall. City Hall had to be closed unexpectedly for a few days to accommodate medical appointments. And Nicky will work on a contingency plan for the Clerk duties in case of emergency, such as duties that need to be completed and who knows how to complete them, and who can take minutes at a council meeting. 20 Seth made a motion to approve resolution 24-9-9-1 for a gambling permit for All Saints Church for a raffle to be held November 1st. Andy seconded the motion and it passed with all in favor. Seth made a motion to approve resolution 24-9-9-2 for a gambling permit for the Holdingford Dance Team Booster Club raffle to be held on December 14th. Jayme seconded the motion and it passed with all in favor. Additional Agenda Items: Jayme made a motion to set the preliminary levy as a $20,000 increase from the current year to help cover paving projects in 2025. Seth seconded the motion, and it passed with all in favor. Looking forward: City Hall will be closed on October 14th for Columbus Day The next City Council meeting will be October 15th @ 7:00 p.m. Borgmann’s lawn waste pickup is on the First Friday of each Month, with the next one on October 4th. Jayme made a motion to adjourn at 8:03 p.m. and Seth seconded the motion and it passed with all in favor. Past due water bills: Signed: Nicky Lahr______________________________________ City Clerk-Treasurer, Holdingford Minutes are not official until approved by the City Council and signed by the Clerk.