City Council

City of Mantorville Regular City Council Minutes March 18, 2024 1. Call to Order Mayo Bradford called the meeting to order at 6:30pm. Present: Mayor Chuck Bradford Councilmembers: Lyle Hoaglund Jeffrey Ingalls Henry Blair Lynette Nash Absent: Others Present: City Clerk-Treasurer Gretchen Lohrbach Public Works Lead Joe Adams Public Works Wade Schroeder Fire Chief Duke Harbaugh 2. Pledge of Allegiance Everyone stood and recited the Pledge of Allegiance. 3. Changes to the Agenda City Clerk Gretchen Lohrbach asked to move agenda item 9C to 9A. Council Approved. 4. Consent Agenda Motion was made by Councilmember Hoaglund and seconded by Councilmember Ingalls to approve the Consent Agenda, as presented: A. Accounts Payable – Warrant List 3.18.24 B. Regular Meeting Draft Minutes of County Commissioners of 2.13.24 C. Regular Meeting Draft Minutes of County Commissioners of 2.27.24 D. Mantorville Chamber of Commerce Minutes February 2024 Motion carried: 4 ayes / 0 nays 5. Proclamations, Presentations and Recognitions – No Items 6. Public Concerns – No Items 7. Public Safety Update  A. Fire Chief Duke Harbaugh states last month we had 11 medical calls, 2 fires, and 1 motor vehicle accident. B. Probationary member Mike Brown turned in his resignation letter due to moving away. Fire Chief Duke Harbaugh is asking for a motion to approved Mike Brown’s resignation: Motion was made by Councilmember Ingalls and seconded by Councilmember Blair to accept Mike Brown’s resignation Motion carried: 4 ayes / 0 nays C. Fire Chief Duke Harbaugh asked for approval for new Firefighter Bob Ott. Bob Ott is fully certified Fire 1 and 2 also EMR trained. He is coming from Claremont Fire Department. Fire Chief Duke Harbaugh asked for motion to approve Bob Ott pending background check: Motion was made by Councilmember Ingalls and Councilmember Hoaglund seconded to accept Bob Ott to Mantorville Fire Department Motion carried: 4 ayes / 0 nays. D. Fire Chief Duke Harbaugh said the SOG Committee has met twice now. One time virtually and once in person. A revision should be drafted up soon which will be presented to the personnel committee prior to membership to get the cities input. E. Fire Chief Duke Harbaugh states he is putting all controlled burns on back burner as it has been very dry recently. Most controlled burn requests have been near wooded areas and he does not have the man power to supervise these. Until we get a good amount of rain, he would prefer to hold off. F. May meeting for Fire Department will be moved. He is expecting this to be moved to May 8th, but confirmation will be in the next Fire Department minutes after it’s been voted on. G. Fire Chief Duke Harbaugh states the rescue rig was in the shop today. The front cover was not broken, but a couple of bolts were. They will be replacing these bolts instead of the entire cover. There are some other regular maintenance issues that will be addressed while the rescue rig is in the shop. 8. Public Hearings – No Items 9. Old Business/New Business A. New Business 1. Selection of Candidate for City Council Vacancy a. Mayor Bradford confirmed this Vacancy would be open until filled. Mayor Bradford addressed the Council Chamber asking if anyone else present would be interested in submitting an application for Council Vacancy. There was no response from the audience. Mayor Bradford asked if any Mantorville City Council Minutes of March 18 2024. Page 2 of 8  present applicants would like to withdraw their application for City Council. No applicants withdrew. b. Kent Keller spoke on behalf of Zachary Krause who is a City Council Applicant. He is absent due to family responsibilities. Keller stated that Krause is his neighbor and that Krause has been very friendly since moving in. Krause has been taking care of his animals for him. Keller said Krause has offered to help neighbors with what is needed and that Krause has a really good heart. c. City Council Applicant Lynnette Nash spoke. She said she is a business owner, home owner, building owner, and an active member of the community. Nash’s husband was previously on the City Council, which gave her greater insight to the operations of the City Council. d. No other City Council Applicants spoke at this time. Mayor Bradford expressed his gratitude for the range of applicants that was received for this position. Mayor Bradford confirmed making this decision would be not an easy one and thanked the applicants for their time during this process. e. Mayor Bradford addressed the City Council for any additional thoughts. Council Member Hoaglund stated he is proud of this community that when a vacancy is presented, we receive so many interested and qualified applicants. Councilman Ingalls agreed. f. City Clerk Lohrbach counted the votes cast as ballots. Lynnette Nash had the popular vote. g. Mayor Bradford asked for a motion to appoint Lynnette Nash to City Council. Motion made by Councilmember Ingalls and seconded by Councilmember Hoaglund to appoint Lynnette Nash to City Council: Motion Carried: 4 ayes/ 0 nays h. Councilmember Lynnette Nash was sworn in by City Clerk Lohrbach at 6:42 pm on March 18, 2024. 2. Loren Castner – Township Variance a. He has purchased a parcel of land north of the City of Mantorville, in the township. This property is in an urban expansion area. He is looking to have a variance from Mantorville Township for the front footage requirements for the parcel. The use of the property will stay the same, cattle and crop land. There will be no additional driveway. Inside the urban expansion district there is a quarter mile requirement for frontage. b. Mayor Bradford asked if any portion of the parcel is inside city limits. Castner confirmed it is not. Mayor Bradford asked if he has approached township regarding this yet. Loren Castner states he will be approaching them at their meeting on April 1, 2024. Mantorville City Council Minutes of March 18 2024. Page 3 of 8  c. Mayor Bradford stated, from the information provided, that this seems like something the township should be discussing and doesn’t involve the city. Castner said due to this property being in the urban expansion district, the county is asking for input from the City of Mantorville Council. d. Fire Chief Harbaugh clarified that this variance would need approval from the County and the City. As the urban expansion district does not want multiple driveways every 100 ft. Duke Harbaugh states the township has talked briefly and stated there is nothing so far that the township would deny, but a formal vote has not taken place. e. Councilman Ingalls asked if there is an application for a variance in for the township. Castner confirmed he does have an application in, but the meeting to approve has not happened yet. He will need a letter drafted to the county from the city stating the City of Mantorville does not oppose this variance. f. Councilman Hoaglund voiced his concerns with this property being so close to the city limits, it could affect further annexation. Castner stated that due to this property being in the urban expansion district, it can’t affect a future annexation. Councilman Hoaglund stated it could affect future annexation due to opposition. Councilman Hoaglund would like to review the ordinance on annexation prior to making a vote. Mayor Bradford stated that we have annexation agreement with township which speaks to west of 57 and north are an ideal expansion area. Township would want to carve out where Township Hall is, asking that this stays in township. Councilman Ingalls said further south of this area is basically already residential, allowing for more driveways. If we annexed it, it would stay residential. Councilman Ingalls stated that since this area is a subdivision with residential streets, it would make sense to continue the pattern. g. Mayor Bradford said from a city perspective he doesn’t see any issue with this variance. h. Motion was made by Councilman Ingalls and seconded by Councilman Hoaglund to support the variance for Loren Castner: Motion carried: 5 ayes / 0 nays. 3. Dave Thompson – Sewer Repair a. Dave Thompson and Darelene Bigelow presented asking for relief from the City of Mantorville for sewer issues. b. Thompson stated the sewer went bad on them. He feels there are extenuating circumstances. There has been a lot of work done and has had Joe Adams out to look at this. Thompson also had Ken Paulson, manager of the land fill, to look at this. c. Dave Thompson states when this issue happened, his granddaughter was living in his half of the townhome at the time. The sewer backed up, there was clear water. There was no damage to Thompson’s place, and he said there was minimal damage at Darelene Bigelow’s home. d. Paulson spoke. He said that when the sewer was originally put in, the back filling was not properly done. He said if the city wants the homeowner to Mantorville City Council Minutes of March 18 2024. Page 4 of 8  be responsible for this, the city should have overseen the project. Ken said about 12 ft deep, there was limestone surrounding the pipe. Over time, pressure and frost caused the pipe to collapse. He said it looks like it was broken for a while prior to the collapse. e. Councilman Hoaglund asked how far into the property did the break happen. Paulson said the break happened in the street, but they had to dig three feet into Thompson’s yard to get enough pipe exposed to fix it. He stated there were five connections in a short length. f. Councilman Ingalls asked if we have history of completing this type of request. Mayor Bradford confirmed we do not. Typically, a developer would so this, it would be private work. Mayor Bradford asked when this was completed, but City Clerk-Treasure Gretchen Lohrbach and Public Works Lead Joe Adams did not know when this was completed. Thompson states he isn’t sure if there was another home on this location, but the current townhomes were built around 1998. g. Councilman Blair said the issue with this is that when it was installed, it could have been the norm of how it was supposed to be. The city didn’t install this. The cities interest ends at the street. h. An audience member, did not state name, said she asked the company, who previously did work on 5th Street about this. They stated the work completed would not have affected this, but she thought the weight of the equipment could have caused this problem to escalate faster. i. Councilman Hoaglund asked how much was replaced. Paulson said the main to the property line has been replaced. j. Councilmember Nash asked for clarification on if the break was in the road or on Thompson’s property. Paulson said it was next to the man hole. Councilmember Nash confirmed from personal experience that the limestone is just what is located 6ft in Mantorville. Paulson stated if that is true, then the stone and rock should have been removed and sand added in its place. Councilmember Nash said it might have been the protocol at the time to replace the native material, as she has had a similar issue. k. Thompson stated he spoke with S&L and Public Works Lead Adams regarding the back fill. It was said Mantorville didn’t have a city inspector at the time. l. Thompson asked for Adams to speak on this as he has been present for the majority of the issues since this line broke. Adams stated he isn’t sure how the process of installing the lines was like when this was installed, but he agrees with what Paulson and Thompson said. It was definitely a back fill issue. m. S&L did complete the work appropriately this time with the back fill. Adams states there were some rocks in there that shouldn’t have been. n. Councilmember Nash asked for research on regulations, ordinances, and inspections for the time this pipe was originally placed. With this information the Council could decide if violations occurred. Councilmember Nash asked if this was something the city or the property owner installed. Public Works Lead Joe Adams states the city would do the Mantorville City Council Minutes of March 18 2024. Page 5 of 8  main, but he is unsure regarding the laterals. He said now days, the city would manage up to the property line in new developments even though the owner is still responsible for it. o. Councilman Hoaglund said that this could set a precedent. He said that when he worked for Xcel, they would often hit hard rock when digging. These issues could happen again. p. Mayor Bradford asked if the Council needs more research on this topic, and if they should table this for the meeting. Councilmember Nash agreed. q. Motion was made by Councilmember Nash and seconded by Councilman Hoaglund to table this issue: Motion carried: 5 ayes / 0 nays B. Old Business – No Items 10. Tabled Items A. Annual Review of Council Bylaws, Policies, and Procedures 1) City Clerk Lohrbach is asking if there are any changes the council would like to see. Mayor Bradford said he would like to hold off on this topic until there is a full Council present. B. Master Fee schedule 1) Mayor Bradford states he wants to wait to discuss this until full council is present. C. Development of informational brochures for the HWY 57 Project-Samples of WHKS brochures handed out for 2021 Walnut Street Project and 2019 3rd Street Loop Project w/ letter 1) Mayor Bradford said he spoke with City Engineer Scott Huneke who will have something to present on the next council meeting. 2) Councilman Hoaglund asked if there has been a preconstruction meeting scheduled yet. City Clerk Lohrbach confirmed there has not been anything scheduled. 3) Mayor Bradford and Councilmember Nash said that during a HWY 57 Committee meeting, it was stated that a temporary road will be placed in the Riverside Park. Elcor will work on one side of the bridge at a time. Elcor stated they were going to be working on HWY 57 section by section. 4) Councilmember Nash stated the question has been asked if residents should reach out to MNDOT or the City for updates. 5) City Clerk Lohrbach said she and Deputy City Clerk Stephanie Arnold can keep the cities Facebook up to date with the information received from MNDOT. 6) Councilman Hoaglund asked if the Council should write a letter to Olmsted County asking if at the intersection of County Road 16 and County Road 5, there could be a sign stating which direction is Pine Island and which direction is Mantorville. This is due to people missing this turn coming out of Byron. Councilmember Nash said she thinks there is already a sign like Mantorville City Council Minutes of March 18 2024. Page 6 of 8  this up. City Clerk Lohrbach said she will work with Huneke to confirm if a sign is there and verbiage for a letter requesting sign if there is not one. 7) Councilmember Nash states the Council should figure out how they want semis and other large vehicles to come into town. Public Works Lead Adams said that is mostly a decision for Elcor. 11. Reports A. Public Works Report 1) Adams stated there was a sewer main plugged two weeks ago and he reached out to Roto-Rooter to jet it. There were two chunks of asphalt and some plastic in there. They were able to repair it. Councilmember Nash said the Opera House had a backup of water and said it should be professionally cleaned. There was no major damage. Councilmember Nash said she is unsure if the city should pay for this cleaning. Mayor Bradford asked City Clerk Lohrbach to look into what the precedent is currently regarding this. Adams confirmed the city is only responsible for the main, not the sewer lines. 2) Councilmember Nash questioned why there is no backflow valves on the pipes. Adams stated he isn’t sure if there is a code to have a backflow valve, as many people don’t like those. 3) Councilmember Nash questioned if the city has an ordinance regarding who is responsible for septic systems. Mayor Bradford said these are covered by the County. Adams confirmed he always works with the county when septic systems are involved. Councilmen Blair confirmed that in his experience, the county were the ones to help. 4) Adams said the John Deere mower broom came in and has been installed. The sprayer has been picked up. He is customizing it and hoping it will last longer. The garbage cans will be put in place tomorrow. He is waiting on the tire swing for Riverside Park to come in. B. City Clerk Report 1) Mike Bubany from David Drown and Associates and City Clerk Lohrbach had a conference call regarding the cities credit rating for the HWY 57 bond sale. They should be made aware of what the findings were by either tomorrow or Wednesday. City Clerk Lohrbach and Bubany felt good with how the call went. 2) City Clerk Lohrbach provided information regarding tiny houses that were presented in an earlier meeting. This information was requested by Councilman Ingalls. C. Consultant Report – No Items D. Committee Reports 1) Chamber  Next event the Chamber has is the Easter Egg Hunt on March 30, 2024. This starts at 9:00 am. Councilmen Hoaglund asked Public Works Lead Mantorville City Council Minutes of March 18 2024. Page 7 of 8  Adams if he would open the shelter in Riverside for this. Adams confirmed he will open the shelter, but he is hesitant to turn the water on for the bathrooms. This would depend on the weather.  The Expo is Saturday March 23, 2024. Councilmen Hoaglund is requesting the city to donate a shirt or sweatshirt for the basket. Motion was made by Councilmen Hoaglund and Councilmen Blair seconded for the city to donate a shirt to the basket for the Expo Motion carried: 5 ayes / 0 nays 2) Economic Development Authority 3) Finance/Budget 4) Fire Department 5) Infrastructure 6) Kasson Mantorville Joint Powers  There is $10,000 to date.  Baseball Scoreboard Update: $40,000 - $70,000 total. They are discussing adding a miles per hour feature.  Total financial investment: Kasson - $150,000.00, Mantorville - $80,000, KM Schools - $165,000. Current balance of fund is $45,500.00.  Public Works Lead Adams said that they are ripping up Mantor Field this fall for repair. Next Spring, the ball field will not be affected. 7) Mantorville Restoration Association  Councilmen Hoaglund stated Mulligan Stew was 100% a success. The money from the Mulligan Stew went into MRA Fund. They are now re- chinking the log cabin. Some of the profit might go towards this project. 8) Park Board  First meeting is the last Tuesday of March. 9) Personnel 10) Fire Relief 11) Township E. Councilmember Reports – No Items F. Mayor’s Report 1) Mayor Bradford wants to thank everyone that applied for the City Council Vacancy. 2) Mayor Bradford stated he will bring a check to City Hall for the sweatshirts that were donated for the Mulligan Stew. 12. Adjourn Motion to adjourn made by Councilmember Hoaglund and seconded by Councilmember Blair: Motion carried: 5 ayes / 0 nays. Meeting adjourned at 8:08pm. Mantorville City Council Minutes of March 18 2024. Page 8 of 8