City Council

MANTORVILLE CITY COUNCIL MEETING AGENDA MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2020 6:30 PM 1. Call to Order – Mayor Bradford called the meeting to order at 6:30 pm. Members Present: Chuck Bradford, Henry Blair, Luke Nash, Don Hofstad (Remote), Sharon Davern (Remote). Others Present: Laura Qualey, Joya Stetson, Brian Hindal, Lindsey Hemker, Lyle Hoaglund, Rhonda Rocap, Ginger Knight, Carole Boyd, Paul Larsen, Emma Jensen Germundson, DCSO – Steph French, Gary Walling, City Staff Shelly Jensen Germundson, Joe Adams and Cami Reber. 2. Pledge of Allegiance - Done 3. Additions/Deletions to Agenda - None 4. Consent Agenda – Member Davern asked about the charge on the fire hydrant. Cami clarified that it was due to an accident but staff has no further information on. She questioned if this is the last meeting of the year. Member Nash responded yes. She asked about the rental license on the trailer park. City is waiting on a few more to come in and approval will take place at the first meeting in January. Member Nash questioned the garbage hauler licenses and if GFL is still commercial only. Cami clarified that yes, it is. Motion made by Member Blair, second by Member Nash to approve the consent agenda as presented: a) City Council Meeting Minute’s November 23, 2020 b) Warrant List December 14, 2020 c) EDA Meeting Minutes October 6 & November 4, 2020 d) Mantorville Park Board Meeting Minutes September 29 & October 27, 2020 e) DCSO Mantorville Call Report November 2020 f) Letter of Resignation MFD – Dale Brannan g) Resolution 2020-27 – Granting Authority to Pay Claims through Year End h) 2021 Garbage Hauler License Renewals i) 2021 Liquor License Renewals j) 2021 Rental License Renewals k) Resolution 2020-30 Acceptance of a Donation Motion passed unanimously. 5. Public Concerns - None 6. Public Hearing(s) - None 7. Old Business/New Business a) Mantorville EDA & CEDA Year in Review EDA Chair Brian Hindal reviewed the EDA budget for 2021. He explained the CEDA contract for last year which included 3 days per month. With the CARES funds, we brought Laura in the extra day which was reimbursed through the CARES funds dollars. He then introduced Laura Qualey from CEDA. She reviewed the 2020 goals and the projected 2021 goals. The focus did get shifted to the CARES funds distribution and the local businesses were very happy about receipt of the funds. She noted the struggles that our local businesses are having and the goal for 2021 is to have a one on one with each business so we can see where we can help them. Whatever we can do, as an economic development, is not always about new businesses but sustaining the ones we have. Grant writing is a strength of CEDA in which $6,800 was awarded to us in 2020. She presented other items that the EDA worked on and also their goals for next year. Member Davern commented that she would like to see other things focused on besides Tourism and that this year has shown it is not the best. Expand the EDA to include people that live in Mantorville City. Brian Hindal noted they are looking into other development options. Tourism is what  Mantorville is and we are looking at stabilizing our current businesses that we have through Tourism. Member Davern suggested that we team up with the people at SCORE to help sustain us over the years. Brian Hindal noted he agrees we can diversify for the future, which we have, but we need to also maintain what we have. Member Nash asked about any virtual tourism ideas and Brian answered that this is something they are looking into. Laura noted the Google Experience platform that she is looking into. Mayor Bradford noted the EDA long-term and short-term goals. Short-term is preservation of the current business community which is to focus on Tourism. Long term is how to continue to support the business community and expand on it with other opportunities in the future. Paul Larsen spoke on behalf of himself, as an individual business owner. He thanked the City and the EDA for helping them out with the loans and grants in 2020. There have been many opportunities through CEDA. He himself has taken some online virtual trainings and been able to meet others from other communities. He noted that Laura understands the small-town business and is always supportive of them and very helpful. He feels it has been very helpful having her here. b) Truth in Taxation – Public Input on Final General Levy Budget for 2021 Mayor Bradford asked for discussion and input on the final budget and proposed levy for 2021 from both the Audience and Council Members. No input from the audience. Mayor Bradford brought up the legal fees incurred to date for 2020 and the feeling that we have gotten off of protocol on this and that we need to discuss it to get back on budget for next year. Member Blair noted that we are 50% over budget already and still have December billing to pay. The Mayor noted that he reached out to Scott Riggs for clarification on this. Primarily questions that could have been answered by the Clerk are coming from a single Council member and has driven this budget item up. Member Davern noted it is her and she has a lot of concerns in the way that the Council has not done safety precautions for COVID and she had to find out what her rights were. Mayor Bradford noted that this behavior is outside of what we have in place for protocol and the behavior is driving the budget to go over. Member Davern is questioning why we don’t have a law firm that is here and accessible, that we could contact at any time and she thought he was going to be on the phone and accessible for the meetings. She feels this is a real problem for our attorney to be two hours away and not at any of the meetings. Member Blair responded that he doesn’t feel this would decrease the costs any; it still is a matter of billable hours. It wouldn’t be any different than water rates going up because a council member decides to wash the streets every day with a million gallons of water. It is still 50% over budget and we didn’t have a big law suit or litigation where we have been over in previous years due to. We are over that and then some. There is definitely a concern about usage. Member Nash asked if we are looking at creating an understanding of what needs to happen. In the past if you have a question for the Attorney, you relay it through Cami. She makes the call and disseminates that amongst all of us as needed. We don’t just call the Attorney when we have questions. It can usually be handled by Cami or the League of MN Cities or an entity that’s not going to cost us money. There should be some sort of an understanding of the use of our City Attorney when its billable hours. There should be a consensus of the Council that someone is going to contact the Attorney or it’s gone through Cami as a rule. Its not good use of time, money or personnel when we are free to contact them whenever. Mayor Bradford noted the Attorney verified that many of the questions asked through him could have been answered by current staff. Member Davern noted she has trouble hearing second and third hand things. That stuff should be in writing. Mayor Bradford asked Cami if there is an ordinance that outlines the protocol. Cami noted there is not an ordinance regarding the interacting with the consultants. It is a general understanding in cities that the Clerk/Administrators are the go-to so you don’t have five different Council Members contacting the consultants with questions for answers that the staff already have. She also noted that not everything is always in writing. Sometimes it’s a matter of a phone call to  verify a question/answer. Many times, she has the answer or can get it through the league without having to go through the Attorney. Member Nash noted an understating should be made with our consultants that they do not need to spend time on things where they are contacted without an approved Council action or by the City Clerk. It will clear things up if our consultants have an understating on how they are going to respond to the City. Motion made by Member Nash, second by Member Blair to abide by the guideline that if you have a legal question or any questions for any of our consultants that you go through the City Clerk or get Council Authorization prior to doing it. Motion passed with Mayor Bradford and Members Blair, Nash and Hofstad voting for and Member Davern voting against. Mayor Bradford asked again for input on the budget and levy being presented tonight. No one had any input. c) Final 2021 General Fund Budget – Approval Motion made by Nash, second by Member Blair to approve the Final 2021 General Fund Budget as presented. Motion passed with Mayor Bradford and Members Blair, Nash and Hofstad voting for and Member Davern voting against. d) Resolution 2020-28 Resolution Adopting the Final Levy Collectible in 2021 Motion made by Member Blair, second by Member Nash to approve Resolution 2020-28 Adopting the Final Levy Collectible in the year 2021 $530,034. Mayor Bradford ruled this out of order at this time and cancelled the motion. They went back to item c). Motion made by Member Blair, second by Member Nash to approve Resolution 2020-28, Adopting the final levy in the amount of $530,034. Motion passed unanimously. e) Resolution 2020-29 Resolution Approving Additional Fund Transfer for 2020 Cami explained the additional fund transfers for 2020 which are mostly transfers from the water and sewer departments along with the extra fund carry overs for the Fire Department and Park Board as explained in the memo. Motion made by Member Blair, second by Member Nash to approve Resolution 2020-29 Approving additional fund transfers for 2020 as presented. Motion passed unanimously. f) Final Water/Sewer Budgets 2021 Member Davern noted her opposition to raising the water and sewer rates. Cami noted that the budgets in front of them tonight do represent the increases that the Council previously passed and what we are expecting next year for revenue. She made a side note that the well had to be pulled again this past week due to some problems. Member Blair noted any revenue increase expected was probably taken from the well repairs. Motion made by Member Nash, second by Member Blair to approve the enterprise funds as presented. Motion passed with Mayor Bradford and Member Blair, Nash and Hofstad voting for and Member Davern voting against. g) City Hall Office Furniture Purchase Approval Cami presented the furniture recommendation as part of the City Hall project. She has one half the cost in this year’s budget and the other half in next years. Motion made by Member Nash, second by Member Blair to approve the $ 5,018.03. Motion passed unanimously. h) Approval of Secondary Meeting Location Discussion on allowing the holding of the City Council meeting at a secondary meeting location, along with at City Hall. The Mayor noted we are not obligated to do this at this time. Member Nash responded that he isn’t in favor of this without knowing what next year is going to give us. Member Davern noted that the room we are in does not allow us to distance the way she feels it should and she is not willing to meet in a place that doesn’t meet the public health standards. Member Hofstad feels we need to take it upon ourselves to make ourselves safe and those around us safe. He is ok to come back to the Chamber as soon as he is done with his quarantine. Mayor Bradford noted there is not a  consensus to authorize having a secondary meeting location. Member Nash noted if it becomes imminent next year, we can authorize a second location, but he doesn’t feel it is necessary now. Mayor Bradford noted that we don’t need a motion to not do something. It is the consensus of Council and we will move forward with that impression. 8. TBD a) Public Works Report – Joe reported on the following: • Streets Department has money left that he would like to use to purchase a couple of items on his 2021 budget. The first one is to purchase the replacement tires for the case tractor at a cost of $4,800. The second is to purchase the bunker blocks at a cost of $5,000. Motion made by Member Nash, second by Member Blair to approve Joe to move forward on as presented. Motion passed unanimously. • Joe noted problems with the well and will have an update on it at the next meeting. • The sand bunker, located in the campground, is ready for the year. b) City Clerk Report – Cami reported on the following: • LMC Dividends received back this year amount to $2,700. • City Hall office remodel is due to begin next Monday. They are moving the City Hall office to the Council Chambers. Completion date is slated for January 12 and they may need to move a couple of meetings to another location and will keep everyone informed. • Auditor will be here next week to begin work on the 2020 Audit. • Due to construction going on, Cami is requesting that we close the City Hall office the entire day of December 24 instead of just closing at noon. Motion made by Member Nash, second by Member Blair to approve. Motion passed unanimously. c) Consultant Report – None d) Committee Report • Fire Department – Member Hofstad reported on them meeting virtually for a little while due to the large number of them in the meeting space. He gave an update on the successful Toys for Tots. e) Council Member Report • Member Hofstad – Noted to everyone to have a Merry Christmas and a Safe Holiday. He thanked Henry Blair for his years of service on the City Council. • Member Nash – Thanked the Fire Department with the Santa parade, the forming of the highway 57 advisory group with meetings coming up soon and he thanked Henry for his time in service and noted there are no words to express the sacrifices. • Member Blair – Made a farewell statement that is on record. f) Mayor Report - He presented Member Blair with a Certificate of Appreciation and thanked him for his 9 years of service. He also gave an update on his KM School COVID Advisory Committee. 9. Executive Session - None 10. Adjourn – Motion made by Member Blair, second by Member Nash to adjourn the meeting at 7:51 pm. Motion passed unanimously.