City Council

MANTORVILLE CITY COUNCIL MEETING AGENDA MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2019 6:30 PM 1. Call to Order – Mayor Bradford called the meeting to order at 6:30 pm. Members Present: Chuck Bradford, Henry Blair, Sharon Davern, Luke Nash Others Present: Joan Nesvold, Ruth Pettey, Deputy Steph French, City Engineer Tim Hruska, Joe Adams, and Cami Reber. 2. Pledge of Allegiance - Done 3. Additions/Deletions to Agenda - None 4. Consent Agenda – Motion made by Member Blair, second by Member Nash to approve the consent agenda as follows: a) City Council Meeting Minute’s November 12, 2019 b) Warrant List November 25, 2019 c) New Applicant Fire Department d) Approval of FD Officers and Job Descriptions Motion passed unanimously. 5. Public Concerns - None 6. Public Hearing(s)- None 7. Old Business/New Business a) Pay Request #3 – Final 5th Street East Improvements 2018 City Engineer Tim Hruska explained Pay Request #3 to Swenke IMS Contracting, LLC for the final pay request on the 5th Street East Improvements. This job was slated to be done by 2018. Discussion took place between the Engineer and owner of the Company in regards to liquidated damages. The damage that was done on the north side of the road caused by Spring runoff and rain events were fixed by the contractor and there was not a charge back to the City. That amounted to $13,350. There is still a section of the bike trail that needs repairs. SL submitted an estimate for the repairs at a cost of $2,260. That amount was deducted from this final pay request. After discussion by the Council, Member Nash commented that he is satisfied with the outcome achieved at this point. Motion made by Member Blair, second by Member Nash to approve Pay Request #3 to Swenke IMS Construction in the amount $140,200.38. Motion passed unanimously. SL will come back in the Spring and fix the repairs to the bike path. b) Ruth Pettey – Lost Dogs City Resident Ruth Pettey approached the Council regarding an incident of a lost dog that she found. It was a black lab that had wandered into her yard. She did not know what to do with it and when she took the dog to the Sheriff’s Department, a Deputy that spoke to her told her the City does not regulate lost dogs, there is nothing they can do so she should take it back to her yard and let it go. Deputy Steph French responded that there is a process in place and they do know what to do with lost dogs. Staff will send a reminder to the Sheriffs Department on this. c) Brewery Site Clean Up Status Council discussed the Brewery site and the remaining items that still exist. The kegs that remain have product in them and they need to be flushed out. Member Davern asked if he has other facilities that he can take them to and dispose of the product? Member Davern asked him to move the kegs by mid- December. Mayor Bradford noted that once he can reestablish water and electricity to the site, he can then take care of them. Member Nash commented that if they aren’t leaking, we don’t have a justifiable health and welfare complaint and we really don’t have the grounds to do anything. At this point we could relay to him that we want the barrels removed. Staff will send him a letter noting our  thanks and appreciation but that we would like to see the kegs out of there or put in the building in order to avoid a future health and safety problem. d) State of MN Joint Powers Agreement – Highway 57 Snow Removal • RESOLUTION 2019-23, A RESOLUTION APPROVING JOINT POWERS AGREEMENT WITH STATE OF MINNESOTA Member Nash noted that he isn’t interested. For the amount of money, they are planning to give us, is it worth the implied liability in the contract, and they aren’t willing to accept the changes our Attorney is recommending. The liabilities are on us at their discretion. On principal and potential liability, I don’t think it’s worth it, in his opinion. Council discussed. The agreement gives them an out for any potential liability but not us. What if the City doesn’t remove the snow, do they? If we don’t do the agreement, what happens. Member Nash noted, we don’t get their money. We are agreeing to the liabilities if we take the money. The plowing is still going to happen, we just won’t get reimbursed. By taking the money, we agree to the other liabilities, it’s a principal thing. A lot of stuff is put on the governmental unit that they are washing their hands on that should be a two-way street. Motion made by Member Nash, second by Member Davern to table the agreement and send communication back up the Chain to express the Council concerns and that we are relying on the advice of our Attorney and recommendation. Motion passed unanimously. e) 2019/2020 City Snow Removal Contract Staff was directed to get a contract together for City Snow Removal. Cami reviewed it with the Council. The only concern staff noted is regarding the verbiage on when snow removal should be completed. After discussion, Council agreed to remove the time line that is put in there and replace it with “at your earliest possible convenience but no later than 8 hours after notification”. Or as logistically possible. Motion made by Member Davern, second by Member Nash to approve the contract submitted with the changes noted. Motion passed unanimously. f) RESOLUTION 2019-24, A RESOLUTION ACCEPTING A DONATION Chuck Bradford made a donation to the Mantorville Fire and Rescue Department of a head immobilizer and a rescue vest. Motion made by Member Nash, second by Member Davern to approve RESOLUTION 2019-24, A RESOLUTION ACCEPTING A DONATION. Motion passed with Members Davern, Nash and Blair voting for and Mayor Bradford abstaining. g) 2020 General Budget – 2020 Enterprise Funds Budget Member Davern noted she would have liked to have seen a priority list before we started the line items. Member Nash noted we should refer back to our Comprehensive Plan for the list of items we should be working on. The problem is ours is out of date and does need to be updated. Mayor Bradford noted that the Finance Committee reviewed things and after looking further, we are recommending a 6% levy increase which actually decreases our tax rate by 1%. The budget shows increase in staff wages and benefits but it represents the max that could be given, not the final. Member Davern noted she would like to have a much more in-depth conversation on the budget that was submitted. Discussion on the EDA budget and the CEDA contract they have included in their budget. Member Davern asked what has been accomplished on the EDA and what is worth $26,000 for the CEDA contract. Member Nash asked what things did they not get done in 2019, that did not get spent in which they are asking for money again in 2020? He doesn’t want to double fund them. Member Davern suggested they go back to the 2019 budget and ask for more reporting. Regarding the CEDA contract, Member Nash asked what are we getting for the dollars; what exactly are we paying for at $62 per hour…is there a membership of some sort? He can’t see paying staff wages at that and not knowing what they are doing…accountability. Discussion on the grant work that Abby brings to the table. Member Blair noted he thinks she brings forward more opportunities than just a regular employee would. Member Davern suggested we limit her to last year’s contract and her main function is in pursuing grants only; no more meetings, no more FB. $15,000 is plenty in pursuing grants, which she supports. We have other people to handle the meetings and do the face book. Member Nash offered a compromise to allow the EDA to keep the 2019 budget as budgeted and honor their request to roll back the unused portion from this last year with the attempt that they are able to show us good use of the CEDA person so we can continue to raise the rates; raise the contribution in future years. Budget wise it shouldn’t hurt us any because this $13,000 is already budgeted last year. We aren’t increasing the budget going forward, we are allowing them to use the budget that is left over. Member Daven would like to see what is actually going on. The EDA can always come to Council to communicate what they want to do with the increase in the budget as long as they have something to show. Discussion on the Park Board Wish List. Davern would like to have them do a fund raiser for the playground equipment. Discussion on the 4 new services in the campground at the site of the old WW plant. Because the RV Park falls within the park boards grasp, it is part of their budget, through the campground fund but the campground funds itself. Member Davern brought up some inexpensive web-based reservation systems that she feels will be very helpful. The customers can see real time what is available and when. They also allow the online paying. This will save a ton of staff time and possibly increase our income and be more user friendly to the public. Member Blair noted this has been looked at in the past and the costs came in much higher due to set up costs and a percentage being take off of the actual reservation fees. Member Davern will send this information to staff. Discussion on the PB Dennison playground proposal. Member Davern would really like to see this put off as we have 2 playgrounds available in town. Member Blair noted the point for this is to be able to have it there for the kids to play on when they come to town for games. The intent is to fundraise money for this project so they aren’t looking for all of the money to come from the City. Member Nash noted that we are actually reducing the Park Board Budget for 2020. A survey previously done showed that our parks are our biggest asset and that has been one of our focuses we have kept up with. Everyone agrees that there is a lot of areas that need improvements and repairs but we also need to maintain our parks. Fire Department – let them know to keep an eye on their budget and if they don’t need it, don’t budget for it – don’t budget to carry over - justification. Leave as is. Cami requested feedback for her proposal on bringing the Assistant City Clerk position to full time. Member Davern noted she would like data to justify this as she has been hearing it for a year, why do we have 2 people in the office; I’ve been challenged on that many times. I would like to be able to show them why, a log of how many people visit…date for 3 months. Member Nash asked for 12 hours a day, what isn’t getting done. What is going to get done with more staff time that isn’t getting done now. Why is City Hall closing half a day in the summer if we need more staff hours? Member Blair commented that this isn’t necessarily due to less staff time needed but to offset the extra hours that staff does put in for various meetings and extras after hours. Member Nash noted that we can leave the dollars in the budget but believes Cami can put together information justifying the need and they can look at it then and make the final decision. Member Davern noted that she doesn’t want to get trapped in to that just because it was budgeted it is approved. Mayor Bradford and Member Blair noted that the option is there but it doesn’t mean it is going to be approved. Member Nash noted that they still have to come to us to get things authorized. There are times that they haven’t gotten what is in the budget. Member Nash noted that he tries as much as possible to be as diligent as possible and what is in the budget and what is being paid for. He makes sure things are justifiable. Council continued budget discussion. It is a consensus to set the final levy at the 6% with anything extra going into the CIP Fund (401). Currently it is $16,800 to the good. This is what will be presented for the Truth in Taxation held at the next regular City Council meeting. Enterprise Funds – Member Davern noted we have extremely high-water bills. Member Blair noted that years ago, the City passed a resolution that each year the water and sewer rates would increase at 3% unless the Council decides otherwise. That money goes directly into the water and sewer funds and is used to fund those things.  Joe explained the problems with the transponders we continue to have. The company that currently supplies them to us, we have had and continue to have problems getting them. There is no other supplier. In a review of this we were told that after 15 – 20 years, the meters start not functioning correctly and we start to lose water. We need to start looking at a complete replacement. We could be looking at $75-$100,000. Cami noted that this can be split between both water and sewer funds. This would include software, readers, and everything. Council discussed. Joe is gathering more information and will be bringing this back to the Council in the near future. A discussion of the water sewer rates for next year and beyond especially knowing that there is a large expense coming. Consensus is to bring back a resolution showing a 6% increase in the water rates and a 3% in the sewer. • Proposed Infrastructure Projects 2020 Joe reviewed the projects being projected for 2020. The items highlighted for 2020 are as follows: Streets Seal Coating/Chip Seal $45,000 - Recommend Minor Road Repairs $18,618 - Recommend Trailer Court Road $30,000 - Recommend Jefferson Street 9th to Stagecoach $100,000 - Recommend Hickory Lane $108,800 – Recommend partial plus engineering plans for total of $33,000 for 2020. West Street $147,400 – hold off on Drainage Channel 6th to 7th $208,000 – hold off on West St. Culvert Alone $50,000 – hold off on until needed Public Works Shed $40,512 – hold off on Manhole Inspections $8,500 – Use Sewer Fund Dollars After much discussion, it is the Consensus of the Council that staff continue to work on the above items as noted and bring more information back to the Council on it in 2020. • Water Meters/Transponders Discussed above. 8. TBD a) Public Works Report – Joe reported on the following items: • Quality flow coming next week for lift station checks. • Working on water tower communication systems. • Make sure cars are off the streets for next snow fall. b) City Clerk Report – Cami reported on the following items: • Next meeting is the Truth in Taxation meeting • LMCIT is still looking into the denial from Elcor on the Andrist claim. • All homes as part of the Cemetery Road Project have been connected to the City sewer. c) Consultant Report – None d) Committee Report - None e) Council Member Report – None f) Mayor Report - None 9. Executive Session - None 10. Adjourn – Motion made by Member Blair, second by Member Nash to adjourn the meeting at 9:04 pm. Motion passed unanimously.